PRESENTED  TO  THE  LIBRARY 


OF 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


BY 


JV[ps.  Rlei^andcp  Pfoudfit. 


ST.  PAUL'S 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS : 


NE\YLY  TKANSLATED, 


AXD  EXPLALVED  FROM  A  MISSIOXARY  POINT  OF  VIEW. 


BT  THE     y 

/ 


RIGHT  REV.  J.  W.  bOLENSO,  D.D., 


BISHOP  OF  NATAL. 


NEW   yore:: 
D.    APPLETO^    AXD    COMPANY, 


443  &  445  BJROADWAY. 
1863. 


TO  THE  HONOUEABLE 

THE    SECRETARY  FOR    NATIVE   AFFAIRS 

TO  THE  NATAL  GOVERNMENT, 

THEOPIIILUS    SHEPSTONE,  Esq. 

My  deae  Fktexd — 

This  book  contains  the  substance  of  many  conversa- 
tions, which  I  have  had  with  you  from  time  to  time, 
upon  the  subject  of  teaching  the  truths  of  Christianity 
to  the  natives  of  this  colony,  and  those  of  other  heathen 
countries.  The  teaching  of  the  great  Apostle  to  the 
Gentiles  is  here  applied  to  some  questions,  which  daily 
arise  in  Missionary  labours  among  the  heathen,  more 
directly  than  is  usual  with  those  commentators,  who 
have  not  been  engaged  personally  in  such  work,  but 
have  wi'itten  from  a  very  different  point  of  view,  in  the 
midst  of  a  state  of  advanced  civilisation  and  settled 
Christianity.  Hence  they  have  usually  passed  by  alto- 
gether, or  only  touched  very  lightly  upon,  many  points, 
w^hich  are  of  great  importance  to  Missionaries,  but 
which  seemed  to  be  of  no  immediate  practical  interest 
for  themselves  or  their  readers. 

The  views,  which  I  have  here  advanced,  are  the 
results  of  seven  years  of  Missionary  experience,  as  well 


IV 


as  of  many  years  of  iDrevioiis  close  study  of  this  Epistle. 
I  had  hoped  that  this  book  might  have  been  of  iise 
with  reference  to  that  great  work  in  Znlnland  to  which, 
as  it  seemed  lately,  the  Providence  of  God  was  more 
directly  calling  you — a  work  which  promised  immense 
results  of  blessing  to  the  natives  of  this  part  of  Africa, 
and  in  which  it  would  have  been  my  joy  and  pride  to 
have  rendered  you  any  assistance  in  my  ]power.  I 
cannot  but  believe  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant, 
when  the  singular  abilities,  which  God  has  given  you, 
for  influencing  the  native  mind,- — to  which,  under  the 
Divine  blessing,  this  colony  has  been  mainly  indebted 
for  the  order  and  peace,  which,  during  so  many  years, 
have  been  maintained,  within  its  border, — will  be  called 
into  yet  more  active  exercise  in  advancing  the  civilisa- 
tion of  these  tribes. 

Meanwhile,  I  beg  you  to  accept  this  book,  as  a  token 
of  sincere  esteem  and  friendship,  and  as  a  pledge  that, 
if  God  will,  I  shall  gladly  be  associated  with  you,  at 
some  future  day,  in  carrying  on  such  a  work. 

I  am,  my  dear  Friend, 

Yours,  very  truly, 

J.  W.  JS^ATAL. 

BisnopsTowE,  June  1, 1861. 


IISTTEODUCTIOI^. 


Before  we  can  enter  fully  into  the  Apostle's  meaning  in 
this  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  see  the  very  gist  of  his 
argument,  and  the  line  of  thought  he  is  following  through- 
out, it  is  necessary  that  we  should  have  a  clear  idea  of  the 
persons  to  whom,  and  the  circumstances  under  which,  it  was 
written.  This,  which  is  desirable,  of  course,  for  the  eluci- 
dation of  all  his  Epistles,  is  absolutely  essential  here.  It  is 
impossible  that  any  one  should  understand  his  language  in 
this  Epistle,  even  in  the  Greek,  much  less  in  the  English 
translation,  who  has  not  realised  to  himself,  in  some  meas- 
ure, the  state  of  things  at  Rome,  at  the  time  when  the 
Apostle  wrote,  who  does  not  keep  that  state  of  things  in 
his  mind  all  along,  as  he  reads  his  words. 

To  what  class  of  persons,  then,  was  this  Epistle  written  ? 
We  call  it  the  Epistle  '  to  the  Romans,'  that  is,  of  course, 
to  the  Christian  believers  then  living  at  Rome.  But  who 
were  these  ?  And  how  did  there  happen  to  be  any  Chris- 
tians at  Rome  at  this  time  ?  It  is  natural  to  imagine  a 
Christian   Church   at  Rome,  definitely  formed   and  fully 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

developed,  like  those  at  Corinth,  Antioch,  or  Ephesus,  or, 
in  later  times,  at  Rome  itself.  And,  probably,  most  readers 
who  have  not  bestowed  much  thought  upon  the  subject, 
would  take  for  granted  that  these  '  Romans,'  who  are  here 
addressed,  were  like  the  Thessalonians,  Corinthians,  and 
others,  mostly  converts,  made  directly  from  the  heathen 
world,  in  the  midst  of  the  teeming  population  of  the  Impe- 
rial City.  When  St.  Paul  writes  (Rom.  i.  i)  '  to  all  that 
be  in  Rome,  beloved  of  God,  called  to  be  saints,'  and  speaks 
to  them  (i.  5,  6)  of  his  having  received  apostleship  '  for  the 
obedience  to  the  faith  atnong  all  nations^  among  whom  also 
are  ye,'  and  tells  them  further  on  (i.  13)  that  he  'had  often- 
times purposed  to  come  unto  them,  that  he  might  have 
some  fruit  among  them,  also,  as  even  among  other  Gentiles^ 
it  is  plain  that  he  is  not  writing  to  Jews,  but  to  Gentiles, 
— to  men  who  were  not  merely  living  at  Rome,  as  numbers 
of  Jews  were  at  this  time,  but  who  were  really  men  of  the 
'nations,'  true  Romans  born  and  bred,  and  who  had  had, 
most  probably,  their  early  training  in  heathenism. 

But,  when  we  look  at  the  Epistle  itself,  we  are  at  once 
struck  with  the  peculiarity  of  its  style,  and  of  its  main  sub- 
ject-matter. The  first  eleven  chapters  would  seem  to  be 
addressed  to  Jews,  rather  than  to  Christians.  By  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  Epistle  assumes  in  the  reader  a  very 
familiar  acquaintance  with  Jewish  history,  and  Jewish 
practices,  and  Jewish  modes  of  thought,  such  as  no  mere 
ordinary  convert  from  heathenism,  especially  at  a  time 
when  there  were  only  manuscripts,  and  the  Books  of  the 
Old  Testament  were  not  in  every  one's  hands,  could  pos- 
sibly have   possessed.     St.  Paul   passes  rapidly  from   one 


INTKODUCTION.  7 

point  to  another,  as  if  sure  of  carrying  his  reader  along 
with  him,  without  stopping  for  a  moment  to  explain  more 
clearly,  to  the  Roman  mind,  any  one  of  his  allusions.  The 
Jew's  '  resting  in  the  Law,'  his  '  making  his  boast  in  God,' 
his  confidence  in  circumcision,  the  story  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  in  some  of  its  minuter  details, — the  destruction 
of  Pharaoh, — extracts  from  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets, — 
all  these  are  brought  in,  when  the  argument  requires  it, 
without  any  doubt  seeming  to  cross  his  mind  as  to  the 
possibility  of  his  illustrations  being  unintelligible,  and  his 
reasoning  failing  to  take  effect,  because  of  any  want  of 
acquaintance,  on  the  part  of  those  to  whom  he  wrote,  with 
the  main  facts  of  Jewish  history.  In  fact,  in  some  places, 
he  writes  directly  as  to  Jews — he  sets  up  a  Jew  to  argue 
"with — as  in  (ii.  17),  'Behold!  thou  art  called  a  Jew,  &c.,' 
and  in  (iv.  l),  '  What  shall  we  say  then  that  Abraham,  our 
father,  hath  found  ?  ' 

And  yet  the  expressions  quoted  from  the  first  chapter, 
and  other  passages,  such  as  (xi.  13)  '  I  speak  to  you  Gen- 
tiles, inasmuch  as  I  am  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  I  magni- 
fy mine  oifice,'  and  the  general  tone  of  the  Epistle  in  many 
parts,  forbid  our  supposing  that  he  w^as  writing  merely 
or  mainly  to  Jews.  How  then  are  we  to  account  for  this 
fact,  that  in  this  particular  Epistle  there  is  so  much  ref- 
erence to  Jewish  matters,  more  than  in  all  his  other  Epis- 
tles put  together,  unless  St.  Paul  wrote  also  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  ?  How  is  it  to  be  explained  that,  address- 
ing himself  here  distinctly  to  '  Gentiles,'  '  Men  of  the  Na- 
tions,' Christians  of  Roman  birth,  he  yet  all  along  assumes 
in  his  readers  such  a  perfect  knowledge  of  Jewish  matters, 


8  ENTKODUCTION. 

such  a  strong  sympathy  with  the  Jewish  mind  and  feel- 


ings? 


In  order  to  give  the  answer  to  this  question,  we  must 
consider  what  light  the  Scripture  records  throw  upon  the 
origin  of  the  Roman  Church.  And  here  we  shall  come  at 
once  upon  this  inquiry,  namely,  Was  there,  in  fact,  any 
Christian  Church  at  Rome  at  all,  at  this  time,  distinct  and 
definitely  marked  off  from  the  Jewish  community  ?  There 
would  seem  to  have  been  none  whatever,  for  the  following 
reasons ; 

(1)  It  is  certain  that  no  apostle  had  as  yet  been  at 
Rome,  or  taken  any  prominent  part  in  founding  such  a 
Church,  or  setting  in  order  its  affairs.  Had  it  been  other- 
wise, St.  Paul  must  have  made  some  reference  to  him  in 
this  Epistle.  And,  besides,  he  tells  these  very  Romans 
(xv.  20),  that  he  '  strove  so  to  preach  the  Gospel,  not  where 
Christ  was  already  preached,  lest  he  should  be  huildiyig  on 
another  man'^s  foundation? 

(2)  Among  the  numerous  salutations  in  the  last  chap- 
ter, in  which  twenty-eight  persons  are  named,  and  others 
indicated,  to  whom,  as  believers  at  Rome,  the  Epistle  must 
be  considered  to  be  especially  addressed,  there  is  no  refer- 
ence to  any  kind  of  Church  government  as  existing  among 
them,  to  any  ruling  power  in  the  Christian  community,  to 
any  presiding  or  oflSciating  person,  whether  bishop,  presby- 
ter, or  deacon.  It  would  have  been  so  natural,  in  chapter 
xiii.,  where  he  enjoins  obedience  to  the  higher  civil  powers, 
though  these  were  heathen,  to  have  thrown  in  a  word  or 
two,  as  to  their  duty  also  to  submit  themselves  to  those,  who 
had  the  '  rule  over  them '  in  spiritual  matters,  who  were 


mTKODUCTION.  9 

*  set  over  them  in  the  Lord  ' — if  any  such  there  were.  It 
may  be  said,  indeed,  that  there  would  appear  to  be  some 
reference  to  duly  ordained  ministers,  pastors,  and  teachers, 
in  the  following  words  (xii.  G — 8),  'Having  then  gifts,  dif- 
fering according  to  the  grace  that  is  given  to  us,  whether 
prophecy,  let  us  prophesy  according  to  the  proportion  of 
faith,  or  ministry,  let  us  wait  on  our  ministering,  or  he  that 
teacheth,  on  teaching,  or  he  that  exhorteth,  on  exhortation  : 
he  that  giveth,  let  him  do  it  with  simplicity,  he  that  ruleth, 
with  diligence,  he  that  sheweth  mercy,  with  cheerfulness.' 
And,  certainly,  some  of  these  expressions  might  be  under- 
stood to  refer  to  Christian  ministers,  if  there  were  any 
other  sufficient  reason  for  supposing  that  there  were  such 
at  Rome  at  this  time, — if  there  were  any  trace  of  them  in 
any  other  parts  of  the  Epistle.  But  it  seems  almost  impos- 
sible that  St.  Paul,  who  knew  by  name  so  many  of  the  be- 
lievers at  Rome,  should  not  have  saluted  by  name  among 
the  rest  the  presbyters  of  the  Church,  if,  indeed,  there 
were  any  to  be  saluted.  Had  he  named  only  two  or  three 
persons  in  the  last  chapter,  we  might  have  inferred,  per- 
haps, that  these  were  saluted  by  him  as  prominent  in  offi- 
cial position;  just  as  in  Col.  iv.  17,  he  writes,  *Say  to 
Archippus,  Take  heed  to  the  ministry,  which  thou  hast  re- 
ceived in  the  Lord,  that  thou  fulfil  it.'  But  the  very  fixct 
that  he  salutes  so  many,  and  makes  no  particular  mention 
of  any  one  of  them  having  office  or  authority  among  them, 
implies  that  he  knew  of  none  such.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  see 
how  any  could  have  been  appointed,  if  the  city  of  Rome 
had  never  as  yet  been  visited  by  an  Apostle.  It  seems, 
therefore,  more  reasonable  to  explain  the  words  quoted 
1* 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

above,  as  referring  to  the  mutual  services  which  the  *  mem- 
bers of  one  body '  should  render  to  one  another,  each  ac- 
cording to  the  gifib  he  has  received,  in  their  religious  com- 
munion, or  common  every-day  intercourse,  and  not  to  the 
duties  of  ordained  ministers.  Indeed,  it  is  most  unlikely 
that,  if  the  expression,  '  he  that  ruleth  or  presideth,'  is 
meant  to  refer  to  the  presiding  presbyter,  it  should  be 
brought  in  at  the  close  of  the  sentence,  as  above. 

(3)  But  the  most  decisive  proof  of  the  non-existence  of 
a  definite  Christian  community  or  Church  at  Rome  at  this 
time,  is  the  account  given  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  Acts, 
of  the  circumstances  which  attended  St.  Paul's  first  visit  to 
Rome. 

For  this  first  visit  of  St.  Paul  to  Rome  took  place  sub- 
sequently to  his  writing  the  Epistle ;  inasmuch  as  in  it  (i.  10, 
11,  13,  15)  he  distinctly  implies  that  he  was  'longing'  in- 
deed to  *  see  them '  at  Rome,  but  was  stiU  a  '  debtor '  to 
them,  and  'had  been  hindered  hitherto,'  having  not  yet 
found  the  answer  to  his  request  'that  by  some  means  now  at 
length  he  might  have  a  prosperous  journey  by  the  will  of 
God  to  come  unto  them.'  If,  therefore,  we  find  reason  to 
believe  that,  on  his  thus  coming  among  them  in  person,  he 
found  no  distinct  organized  Church,  we  may  conclude,  a 
fortiori^  that  there  was  none  at  the  time  when  he  wrote 
the  Epistle. 

Now,  we  are  told  in  St.  Luke's  narrative  (Acts  xxviii. 
14),  that  at  Puteoli  he  found  '  brethren.'  What  this  ex- 
pression means  wiU  depend  on  the  view  we  take  of  the 
same  language,  when  applied,  in  the  following  verse,  to  the 
believers  at  Rome.    For  'from  Rome,'  we  read,  '  when  tTiQ 


INTKODUCTION.  11 

brethren  heard  of  us,  they  came  to  meet  us,  whom  when 
Paul  saw,  he  thanked  God,  and  took  courage.'    The  article 
is  important  here — '  the  brethren.'     "We   should  infer  from 
this  expression  that,  if  not  the  whole,  yet  at  all  events  the 
great  body  of  the  believers  at  Rome  came  out  to  meet  the 
Apostle.     And  if  the  number  had  been  large,  we  should 
surely  have  had  some  plainer  intimation  of  the  fact,  than  is 
given  by  the  simple  words,  '  the  brethren.'     And  when  he 
reaches  Rome,  we  do  not  hear  of  any  gathering  of  the 
Church,  or  of  any  visit  made  to  the  Aj^ostle  by  the  pastors 
or  teachers  of  the  Church,  by  any  presbyter  or   deacon. 
The  whole  tenor  of  the  narrative  in  Acts  xxviii.  17 — 31, 
clearly  implies  that  there  was  nothing  of  the  kind.  St.  Paul 
calls  together  the  chief  of  the  Jews,  not  the  elders  of  the 
Christian  Church ;  he  tells  them  that  '  for  the  hope  of  Israel 
he  is  bound  with  this  chain.'     They  answer  that  they  had 
heard  no  evil  about  him  from  any  quarter,  which  would  not 
surely  have  been  the  case,  if  controversies  such  as  those, 
which  arose  in  every  other  Church  between  St.  Paul  and 
the  '  party  of  the  circumcision,'  had  broken  out  here.    And 
yet  the  same  difficulties  must  have  arisen  in  Rome,  as  else- 
where, between  the  Jewish  community  and  the  *  sect '  of 
Christians,  if  there  had  been  at  this  time  any  distinct  and 
anti-Jewish  development  of  Christian  principles  in  the  Im- 
perial City.     But  the  '  chief  of  the  Jews  '  at  Rome  tell  St. 
Paul,  that  '  they  desire  to  hear  what  he  thinks  ;  for,  as  con- 
cerning this  sect,  we  know  that  it  is  everywhere  spoken 
against.'     '  This  sect,' — ^here  is  the  expression  which  gives 
us  the  clue  to  their  present  state  of  feeling,  with  regard  to 
those  who  professed  to  believe  in  Jesus.    They  regarded 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

them  only  as  '  a  sect '  of  the  Jews.  And  they  do  not  seem 
to  have  had  much  personal  knowledge  of  '  this  sect '  at  all. 
They  speak  as  men  who  had  heard  more  about  it  than  they 
had  seen — who  had  no  proof  before  their  eyes  of  the  corrupt 
and  dangerous  teaching,  as  they  would  consider  it,  w^hich 
in  other  places  was  doing  so  much  mischief,  and  caused  the 
'  sect '  to  be  so  much  '  spoken  against.'  In  other  words, 
they  had  evidently  no  knowledge  of  a  Christian  Church, 
existing  in  their  very  midst,  at  Rome.  There  were,  doubt- 
less, believers  there  of  a  certain  kmd,  of  the  nature  of 
whose  belief  something  shall  be  said  presently.  But,  w^hat- 
ever  they  believed,  they  had  not  yet  broken  loose  from  the 
Church  of  their  fathers,  they  had  not  yet  forsaken  the  Jew- 
ish faith.  They  had  not  yet  separated  themselves  from  the 
great  body  of  the  Jews  m  Rome,  nor  formed  themselves 
into  any  distinct  community. 

Let  us  go  on  next  to  consider  what  the  belief  of  these 
Christians  at  Rome  was  likely  to  be. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  Epistle  was  written  at 
Corinth,  during  St.  Paul's  second  visit  to  that  city,  included 
in  the  expression  (Acts  xx.  2,  3)  '  he  came  into  Greece,  and 
there  abode  three  months.'  On  his  first  arrival  in  Corinth 
(Acts  xviii.  2,  3)  he  found  there  'a  certain  Jew  named 
Aquila,  lately  come  from  Italy^  with  his  wdfe  Priscilla, 
(because  that  Claudius  had  commanded  all  Jews  to  depart 
from  Rome,)  and  came  unto  them.  And  because  he  was  of 
the  same  craft,  he  abode  mth  them  and  wrought ;  for  by 
their  occupation  they  were  tentmakers.'  '  And  he  continued 
there  a  year  and  six  months,  teaching  the  word  of  God 
among  them'  (Acts  xviii.  11).     From  the  above  we  may 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

infer  that  durinc:  those  eic^hteen  months  St.  Paul  abode  still 
with  Aquila  and  Priscilla ;  and  we  find  that  when  at  last 
'he  sailed  thence  for  Syria'  (Acts  xviii.  18),  Priscilla  and 
Aquila  went  with  him. 

Now  what  is  meant  by  the  expression,  'he  found  a 
certain  Jew  named  Aquila'  ?  We  know  that  at  some  time 
or  other,  Aquila  and  Priscilla  became  eminent  Christian 
believers ;  and  it  would  be  hard  to  suppose  that  St.  Paul 
could  have  lived  so  long,  in  such  intimate  connexion  with 
them,  if  they  were  rigidly  fixed  in  the  principles  of  Juda- 
ism. Are  we  to  understand,  then,  these  words,  '  a  certain 
Jew,'  only  to  refer  to  Aquila's  Jewish  birth  ? — as  when.  St. 
Paul  said  to  St.  Peter  (Gal.  ii.  14),  'If  thou,  being  a  Jew, 
&€.,'  when  yet  they  were  both  Apostles  of  Christ.  But  in 
that  case,  would  not  St.  Luke  have  written  a  '  certain 
helieving  Jew  '  ?  The  argument,  of  course,  is  not  conclu- 
sive. But,  certainly,  the  expression  used  would  incline  one 
to  suppose  that  Aquila,  when  St.  Paul  first  *  found  him  at 
Corinth,  was  a  Jew,  indeed,  still  by  outward  act  and  pro- 
fession, and  as  such,  associating  freely  with  his  Jewish 
brethren,  but  one  with  a  strong  tendency  to  Christianity, 
which  St.  Paul  himself,  by  his  long  close  intercourse  with 
him,  was  the  means  under  God  of  fostering  into  a  down- 
right, earnest,  genuine,  profession  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Was  not,  in  short,  Aquila  a  specimen  of  the  kind  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  at  that  time  existed  in  Italy,  among  the 
'brethren'  at  Puteoli  and  Rome?  Were  not  these,  in 
point  of  fact,  either  actual  born  Jews,  as  Aquila,  or  Jewish 
proselytes  from  among  the  Romans,  who  had  received  in 
some  way  some  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  and  had  gone  so  • 


14:  INTKODUCTION. 

far  as  to  recognise  in  the  crucified  Jesus  the  Christy  the 
Messiah,  the  anointed  one  of  God,  who  had  been  so  long 
promised  to  the  Jewish  people  ?  Were  not  these  *  breth- 
ren' men,  who  were  sincere  of  heart,  and  pious  and  devout 
in  life,  whether  Jews  or  Roman  proselytes,  believing  in  the 
true  living  God,  and  believing  also  that  He  had  now 
visited  them  according  to  His  promise,  and  revealed  to 
them  their  King,  but  who  had  not  yet  abandoned  by  any 
means  the  hope  of  the  Jewish  nation,  which  every  Jew- 
inherited  as  his  birthright,  and  into  which  every  proselyte 
was  baptized, — that  infatuated  notion  of  their  own  import- 
ance, merely  as  children  of  Abraham  and  circumcised, 
which  possessed  them  to  the  last,  and  made  them  think, 
that,  amongst  all  their  iniquities,  they  were  the  favourites 
of  God,  and  sure  of  entering  into  His  kingdom  ?  Hence  we 
have  John  the  Baptist's  warning,  '  Think  not  to  say  within 
yourselves.  We  have  Abraham  to  our  father.'' — To  them 
'circumcision  was  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  the  charm 
which  protected  them  from  God's  wrath  : '  Jowett,  who  also 
quotes  from  Schcettgen's  Hor.  Hebr.,  Vol.  i.  p.  499,  a  remark- 
able passage,  where  a  Jewish  Rabbi,  being  pressed  with  the 
question,  '  How  could  Israelitish  heretics,  apostates,  and 
otherwise  impious  persons,  after  being  circumcised,  be  sent 
to  perdition  ? — answers,  '  God  will  first  uncircumcise  them, 
and  so  they  will  go  down  to  hell.' 

If  such  a  feeling  possessed  the  hearts  of  the  worst  men 
of  the  nation,  who  reckoned  that,  though  their  places  might 
be  low  in  the  '  kingdom,'  yet  their  claim  to  it  was  certain, 
for  the  word  of  God  was  pledged  to  their  great  forefather, 
— and  that  word  no  wickedness  of  theirs  could  make  void, 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

for,  whatever  they  might  do,  God  would  be  faithful  who 
had  promised — how  much  stronger  must  it  have  been  in  the 
mind  of  the  pious  Jew.  About  this  '  Kingdom,'  doubtless, 
Nicodemus  came  to  inquire,  though  the  report  of  the 
conversation  begins  so  abruptly  in  St.  John's  narrative,  that 
we  scarcely  see  at  first  the  reason  for  the  form,  which  our 
Lord's  first  words  assume  in  it.  Nicodemus,  however,  as  a 
devout  Jew,  had  no  doubt  about  the  '  coming  of  the  king- 
dom,' in  God's  due  time, — not  that  Kingdom  of '  righteous- 
ness, and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,'  which  we,  as 
Christians,  know  to  be  the  Kingdom  of  God, — but  a  King- 
dom of  some  kind,  of  some  unknown,  unimaginable  glory, 
over  all  other  nations  upon  earth,  which  should  one  day  be 
*  restored  to  Israel.'  Nicodemus  also  had  no  doubt  as  to 
his  own  right,  not  merely  as  a  true  behever  in  God,  but 
as  a  true  born  Jew,  a  child  of  Abraham,  to  have  a  share  in 
it.  "What  he  wanted  to  know  was,  how  he  might  best 
prepare  himself  for  it,  how  he  might  best  attain  a  worthy 
place  in  that  kingdom.  And  he  probably  asked  a  question 
to  that  efi*ect.  Our  Lord  throws  him  back  at  once  in 
His  reply  to  the  only  true  ground  of  hope.  It  is  as  if  He 
had  said,  (to  paraphrase  with  reverence  the  sacred  words,) 
'  You  are  come  to  me  very  confident  of  your  concern  In 
this  Kingdom.  You  are  sure,  you  think,  of  a  place  in  it. 
But  why  are  you  sure  ?  What  ground  have  you  for  think- 
ing that  you  have  any  place  at  all  in  it .?  Do  you  imagine 
that,  because  you  are  born  of  Abraham,  your  claim  will  be 
allowed  ?  But  I  tell  you  this  will  avail  you  for  nothing. 
Your  mere  natural  descent  is  no  ground  at  all  for  any  such 
expectation.     Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Except  a  man  4^ 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

be  born  again — be  born  a  second  time,  or  be  born  from 
above,  by  a  supernatural,  spiritual  birth, — ^lie  cannot  so 
much  as  see  the  Kingdom  of  God.'  Nicodemus,  in  point 
of  fact,  was  ah'eady  thus  born  again,  thus  born  from  above  ; 
he  had  already  received  that  second  spiritual  birth,  though 
he  did  not  know  it.  It  was  the  working  of  God's  good 
Spirit  upon  his  heart,  that  had  all  along  been  leading  him 
in  the  way  of  Truth  and  Righteousness,  and  was  now  lead- 
ing him  to  Christ.  But  he  had  never  been  accustomed  to 
think  of  this.  It  was  a  new  thing  to  him,  though  a  Master 
of  Israel,  to  be  told  that  such  work  of  grace  as  this  was 
needed  for  him,  as  it  was  needed  for  all  men,  if  they  were 
to  see  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Though  an  *  earthly  thing,'  a 
thing  common  to  men, — which  we.  Christians,  now  are 
more  or  less  plainly  taught  to  recognise  from  the  very  first, 
as  the  free  gift  of  God,  which  alone  can  make  ns  fit  for  His 
service  here  and  His  glory  hereafter, — yet  to  Nicodemus 
it  was  strange  and  new.  He  could  not,  at  first,  believe,  or 
understand,  what  the  Master  was  telling  him.  This,  then, 
was  an  instance  of  a  devout  Jew,  fully  prepossessed  with 
the  infatuation  of  his  people,  and  requiring  to  have  this 
false  ground  of  hope  struck  away  from  under  his  feet  at  the 
very  outset,  if  he  would  heartily  embrace  the  faith  of  Jesus. 
So  too  the  Apostles  were  asking,  even  after  the  Resurrec- 
tion, 'Lord,  wilt  Thou  at  this  time  restore  again  the  Kingdom 
to  Israel  ?  '  And  the  whole  tone  of  the  Magnificat,  Bene- 
dictus,  and  Nunc  Dimittis,  evidences  the  same  rooted  feel- 
ing in  the  minds  of  pious  Jews,  who  yet  were  believers  in 
Christ,  that  His  Coming  was  to  be  attended  with  special 
.benefits  to  their  nation  at  large,  as  '  God  had  promised  to 


*  INTRODUCTION.  17 

their  forefathers,  Abraham  and  his  seed  for  ever ; '  it  was  to 
bring  '  a  light,'  indeed,  '  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,'  but  so  as 
'to  be  the  glory  of  God's  people,  Israel.'  We  have  now 
learned  to  give  to  all  such  passages  a  sf)iritual  meaning,  to 
understand  by  'Abraham's  seed,'  the  children  of  the  faith 
of  Abraham,  and  by  '  God's  people,  Israel,'  the  body  of 
true  behevers.  But,  certamly,  this  is  not  the  way  in  which 
the  first  Jewish  believers  would  have  interpreted  such 
words.  And  we  have  abundant  proof, — in  the  hesitation 
of  St.  Peter  to  baptize  the  first  Gentile  convert, — in  the 
contention  which  arose  in  consequence  of  his  so  doing,  in 
the  Church  at  Jerusalem  (Acts  xi.  2), — in  his  subsequent 
vacillation  of  conduct,  for  which  St.  Paul  so  severely  re- 
proved him  (Gal.  ii.  14,  &c.),  when  'the  other  Jews  dissem^ 
bled  with  him,  insomuch  that  Barnabas  also  was  carried 
away  by  their  dissimulation,' — in  the  constant  endeavours 
which  were  made  by  certain  parties,  who  came  down  from 
Jerusalem  (and  who  must,  of  course,  have  been  professed 
believers  themselves,  or  they  could  have  had  no  influence 
upon  the  disciples  to  whom  they  came),  to  turn  away  the 
Gentile  converts  from  the  pure  Gospel,  as  preached  by  St. 
Paul,  back  to  the  servile  practices  of  Judaism, — above  all, 
in  the  vigorous,  determined  battle,  which  St.  Paul  himself 
was  constantly  waging  with  such  teachers,  as  one  impelled 
to  this  conflict,  from  a  deep  sense  of  the  urgent  necessity 
of  the  case, — in  all  this  we  have  abundant  proof  that,  for 
many  years,  during  the  first  age  of  Christianity,  there  ex- 
isted in  the  minds  of  many,  who  professed  to  beheve  in 
Jesus,  a  very  strong  Jewish  feeling — a  notion  that  the  Jew 
had  in  some  way  a  superior  claim  upon  the  gifts  of  God's 


18  INTEODUCTION. 

favour ;  and  that,  if  the  Gentiles  were  to  be  permitted  to 
share  them,  it  could  only  be,  as  it  were,  by  taking  hold  of 
a  man  that  is  a  Jew,  and  '  clinging  to  his  skirts ' — ^by  ob- 
serving the  Jewish  ^aw,  as  the  ground  of  their  acceptance 
with  God,  only  adding  to  this  the  recognition  of  Jesus 
Christ,  as  the  '  Great  Prophet,  whom  God  had  raised  up 
to  them,'  to  be  the  channel,  through  whom  the  blessing, 
which  the  Jews  had  a  right  to  claim,  as  children  of  Abra- 
ham, would  be  bestowed  upon  them  first,  and,  through 
them,  upon  those  of  the  heathen  world,  who  would  first  do 
honour  to  their  law,  and  adopt  their  religion. 

And,  what  the  Jews  themselves  held  in  this  respect, 
they  taught,  of  course,  to  their  proselytes,  '  making  them 
tenfold  more  the  children  of  error  than  themselves.'  If 
one  of  these  had  incurred  the  contempt  or  ill  will  of  his  own 
countrymen,  by  adopting  the  religion  of  the  Jew  (and 
many  of  them  had  undergone  the  right  of  circumcision  it- 
self), of  course,  he  would  be  eager  to  claim  his  share  also 
in  the  honours  of  '  the  Kingdom,'  of  which  he  was  now 
made  free.  Like  the  Jew,  his  teacher,  he,  too,  would  be 
'  resting  in  the  Law,  and  making  his  boast  of  God,'  in  his 
own  measure ;  trusting,  indeed,  that  Christ  would  profit 
him  in  some  way,  but  only  as  being  already  a  Jew,  or  a 
quasi-Jew,  and  not,  simply,  as  being  a  man. 

This  was,  in  all  probability,  the  state  of  mind  of  those 
at  Rome,  who  professed  to  believe  in  Christ  at  the  time 
when  St.  Paul  wrote  this  Epistle.  The  Gospel,  we  may 
believe,  was  first  carried  to  Rome  by  some  of  that  great 
number,  who  were  baptized  by  St.  Peter  at  Jerusalem  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost.     We  read  of  there  being  present  on 


INTEODUCTION".  19 

that  occasion, '  strangers  from  Rome,  Jews  and  proselytes  > 
— ^travellers,  who  had  come  to  Jerusalem  to  keep  the  Fes- 
tival, and  perhaps,  for  other  pm-poses  of  business  or  pleas- 
ure, and  meant  to  sojourn  there  for  a  short  time  only,  and 
who  consisted  not  only  of  true-born  '  Jews,'  but  of '  prose- 
lytes '  also,  who,  though  of  Roman  birth,  had  embraced  to 
some  extent  the  Jewish  religion,  because  of  the  pure  the- 
ism which  it  contained,  and  had  connected  themselves  ulti- 
mately with  the  true-born  Israelites.  We  have  abundant 
evidence  from  profane  writers  that  such  Jews  abounded  at 
this  time  at  Rome,  and  that  they  had  made  many  prose- 
lytes. Surely,  among  the  three  thousand  souls,  who  were 
added  to  the  Church  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  it  is  reason- 
able to  believe  that  some  were  'strangers  from  Rome.' 
They  were  baptized  on  that  day,  impressed  by  the  facts 
which  they  had  witnessed,  and  '  pricked  to  the  heart '  by 
St.  Peter's  words.  These  men  had,  doubtless,  heard  at 
Jerusalem  the  story  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, — how  He  had 
gone  about  doing  good,  and  working  mighty  wonders  of 
healing  mercy  among  the  people,  and  speaking  mighty 
words  of  truth  and  love  in  their  hearing.  They  had  heard 
the  story  of  His  Death,  His  Resurrection  and  Ascension, 
from  the  lips  of  those,  who  had  only  just  before  been  actual 
witnesses  of  those  events,  but  who  had  not  even  themselves 
realised  the  full  meaning  of  them.  They  had  been  present 
when  the  Spirit  came  with  power  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
and  had  heard  the  Apostles,  Galileans  as  they  were,  men 
despised  and  unlearned,  '  speaking  with  other  tongues  the 
wonderful  works  of  God.'  They  had  listened  to  St.  Peter's 
address,  and  been  convinced  by  it,  that  He,  who  had  been 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

rejected  of  men,  was  yet  the  chosen  One  of  God, — that  He, 
who  had  been  cast  out  as  an  unclean  thing  by  the  chief 
priests  and  the  great  body  of  the  Jewish  people,  was  yet, 
indeed,  their  Messiah,  the  Anointed  One,  the  promised  son 
of  David,  the  seed  of  Abraham,  '  in  whom  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.'  They  had  never  heard  His 
gracious  words,  nor  seen  His  form,  nor  been  partakers  in 
the  guilt  of  those  who  had  '  hid  their  faces  from  Him,'  or 
who  had  '  taken  Him  by  wicked  hands,  and  crucified,  and 
slain  Him.'  Hence,  perhaps,  they  were  the  more  ready  to  re- 
ceive St.  Peter's  words,  and  to  acknowledge  Him,  of  whom 
they  heard  such  wonders,  and  of  whose  power  they  had 
been  themselves  eye-witnesses  in  the  occurrence  of  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  as  the  true  King  of  the  Jewish  nation,  their 
Saviour  and  Lord.  And  so  they  'gladly  received  the 
"Word,  they  believed,  and  were  baptized.'  Thus  they  made 
profession  of  their  faith  in  Jesus.  For  a  few  days,  perhaps, 
they  kept  company  with  the  Apostles,  '  continuing  in  their 
doctrine,  and  fellowship,  and  in  the  breaking  of  bread,  and 
in  prayers.'  But,  then,  when  the  festival  was  over,  they 
would  return  to  their  own  homes  at  Home,  and  take  with 
them  what  knowledge  they  had  gained  of  the  Christian 
Faith. 

But  what,  we  must  again  ask,  was  the  extent  of  that 
knowledge,  and  of  their  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of 
Christianity,  as  St.  Paul  afterwards  unfolded  them,  when 
God  Himself  had  '  revealed  His  Son  in  him '  ?  We  are  so 
apt  to  overlook  the  fact  that,  in  those  early  days,  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Truth  was  not  developed,  as  in  these  days  every 


INTEODUCTION.  21 

Christian  child  possesses  it,  that  we  are  ready  at  once  to 
connect,  with  their  baptism  and  profession  of  Christianity, 
all  that  we  should  understand  by  it,  if  we  spoke  of  the  bap- 
tism of  a  Christian  convert  from  heathenism,  mider  the 
teaching  of  a  missionary  of  our  own  day.  '  Blessed,  in- 
deed, are  the  eyes  which  see  the  things  which  we  see ! ' 
Taught  as  we  are  by  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  and  the  writ- 
ings of  St.  John  the  Divine,  we  know  now,  and  we  should 
teach  our  native  converts  to  know  from  the  very  first, 
truths,  which  even  St.  Peter  for  a  long  time  did  not  know, 
though  enhghtened  from  above  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 
Much,  indeed,  of  his  Jewish  prejudices  and  prepossessions 
must  have  been  shaken  on  that  day,  but  not  all  by  any 
means.  He  could  still,  in  the  true  spirit  of  Jewish  exclu- 
siveness,  seven  or  eight  years  afterwards,  hesitate  about 
keeping  company  or  eating  with  Cornelius  and  his  friends, 
as  things  ''  common  and  unclean.'  And  after  the  baptism 
of  Cornehus,  we  are  told  that  the  Apostles  and  brethren 
that  were  in  Judaea,  when  they  heard  his  story,  '  held  their 
peace,  and  glorified  God,  saying.  Then  hath  God  also  to  the 
Gentiles  granted  repentance  unto  life.' — It  is  plain  that, 
up  to  this  time,  they  still  clung  to  the  notion  of  their  supe- 
riority as  Jews  and  children  of  Abraham.  And  yet  Corne- 
lius was  no  mere  heathen  when  St.  Peter  went  to  visit  him. 
He  was  '  a  pious  man,  and  one  that  feared  God  with  all  his 
house,' — ^words  which  indicate  a  proselyte  of  the  gate,  one 
who  had  adopted  the  Jewish  religious  faith,  without  con- 
forming to  its  ceremonial  observances,  and  so  becoming  a 
'  proselyte  of  righteousness.'  These '  strangers  from  Rome ' 
were  probably  of  the  latter  class — some  of  them,  at  all 
events,  circumcised  as  the  Jews. 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

Nor  was  St.  Peter's  conduct  wholly  corrected  even  by 
what  happened  in  the  case  of  Cornelius.  For,  though 
specially  taught  on  this  occasion  the  lesson,  that  he  should 
count  nothing  common  or  unclean,  which  God  had  made 
clean,  we  find  him,  ten  years  afterwards,  actually  '  with- 
drawing and  separating  himself'  from  the  Gentile  baptized 
converts,  *  fearing  those  of  the  circumcision.'  We  cannot 
wonder,  therefore,  that  he  did  not  preach  to  the  assembled 
multitudes,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  such  a  sermon,  exactly, 
as  a  Christian  Divine  of  the  present  day  might  preach.  He 
spoke  as  a  Jew  to  Jews,  of  the  prophet  Joel  and  the  pa- 
triarch David,  and  of  the  oath  which  God  had  sworn  to 
the  latter,  that  '  of  the  fruit  of  his  loins,  according  to  the 
flesh.  He  would  raise  up  (Christ)  the  Messiah  to  sit  on  his 
throne.'  '  Therefore,'  said  he,  '  let  all  the  House  of  Israel 
know  assuredly  that  God  hath  made  that  same  Jesus, 
whom  ye  have  crucified,  both  Lord  and  Christ — ^both  King 
and  Messiah.'  Such  words  as  these,  and  '  many  other'  like 
words,  these  '  strangers  from  Rome '  must  have  heard  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost, — many  other  like  words,  because  the 
language  of  the  Apostles,  Peter  and  John,  in  the  addresses 
recorded  in  the  third  chapter  of  the  Acts,  is  precisely  simi- 
lar in  character.  There  is  not  a  word  in  them  all,  calculat- 
ed to  shake  the  confidence  of  the  Jew,  as  a  child  of  Abra- 
ham. There  is  much,  which  might  be  turned  to  a  perverse 
purpose,  for  building  up  the  fond  hope  and  the  proud  ex- 
pectation of  the  Jewish  nation.  '  Moses  truly  said  unto  the 
fathers,  A  prophet  shall  the  Lord  your  God  raise  up  unto 
you,  of  your  brethren,  like  unto  me :  Him  shall  ye  hear  in 
all  thuigs,  whatsoever  He  shall  say  unto  you.'    Was  not 


INTEODrCTION.  23 

Moses  their  mighty  leader  and  lawgiver  and  conqueror  of 
old  ?  How  easy  and  natural  for  the  heart  of  a  pious  Jew, 
yet  untaught  to  spiritualize  the  prophetic  promises,  to  sup- 
pose that  a  fresh  time  of  glory  was  at  hand  for  God's  own 
people  !  '  le  are  the  children  of  the  prophets,  and  of  the 
covenant  which  God  made  with  our  fathers,  saying  unto 
Abraham,  In  thy  seed  shall  all  the  kindreds  of  the  earth  be 
blessed.'  What  seed  would  that  be  but  the  Jewish  nation 
— at  least,  the  devout,  obedient  part  of  it  ?  Would  they 
not  even  now  be  raised  from  their  abject  state,  and  become 
as  the  stars  of  heaven  for  glory  and  multitude  ?  '  Unto 
you  first,  God,  having  raised  up  His  son,  Jesus,  sent  Him 
to  bless  you,  by  turning  away  every  one  of  you  from  his 
iniquities.'  Yes,  they  would  confess  the  iniquity  of  their 
priests  and  people  in  times  past,  and  specially  in  the  bloody 
act,  with  which  Jerusalem  was  still  ringing,  when  their 
rulers  had  '  denied  the  Holy  One  and  the  Just,  and  desired 
a  murderer  to  be  granted  unto  them,  and  had  killed  the 
Prince  of  Life.'  Yes,  they  would  acknowledge  Him  as 
Christ  and  King,  and  so  await  '  the  times  of  refreshing  and 
restitution  of  all  things,  which  should  come  from  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord '  to  Israel,  when  '  Jesus  Christ,  whom  the 
Heaven  must  now  receive  for  a  season,  should  come  again,' 
and  set  up  amidst  men  His  Kingdom  upon  earth,  of  which 
they,  the  sons  of  Abraham,  should  be,  if  not  the  exclusive 
inheritors,  yet,  at  all  events,  the  lords  and  princes. 

The  confession  of  many,  perhaps  of  most  of  the  earliest 
Jewish  believers,  went,  probably,  no  further  than  this.  They 
did  not  acknowledge  Him,  for  they  did  not  know  Him 
then,  as  the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  the  only-begotten  of  the 


24  INTKODUCTION. 

Father,  the  Brightness  of  His  Glory,  the  express  iraage  of 
His  Person.  He  was,  indeed,  in  their  eyes,  the  Son  of 
God,  but  only  in  that  lower  sense,  in  which  they  supposed 
their  Messiah  would  come  as  the  Son  of  God.  It  was  not 
on  this  account  merely,  because  our  Saviour  called  Himself 
the  Son  of  God,  that  the  Pharisees  were  offended  with 
Him ;  but  because  they  fancied  that  He  had  used  those 
words  in  a  higher  sense  than  they  did,  and  seemed  to  make 
Himself  equal  with  God.  They  took  up  stones  to  stone 
Him,  because  He  said,  '  I  and  my  Father  are  One.'  And 
our  Lord  Himself,  who  did  not  at  that  time  intend  to  reveal 
the  mysteries  of  His  Divine  [N'ature,  which  men  could  not 
look  upon,  until  their  eyes  should  be  enhghtened  by  the 
Spirit  of  Truth,  replied  in  such  a  way  as  to  silence  their  ob- 
jections, by  appealing  to  the  language  used  of  themselves 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  surely  might  be  used  of  the 
Anomted  Messenger  of  God.  *  Is  it  not  written  m  your 
Law,  I  said.  Ye  are  Gods  ?  If  he  called  them  Gods,  unto ' 
whom  the  word  of  God  came  (and  the  Scripture  cannot  be 
broken),  say  ye  of  Him  whom  the  Father  hath  sanctified, 
and  sent  into  the  world,  Thou  blasphemest,  because  I  said, 
I  am  the  Son  of  God  ? '  It  cannot  be  believed  for  a  moment 
that  in  these  words  our  Lord  was  merely  evading  the  point 
of  their  charge.  Such  a  course  would  never  have  been 
consistent  with  the  character  of  Him,  who  was  perfect  truth 
and  sincerity.  They  accused  Him  of  blasphemy,  because 
they  thought  He  'made  Himself  equal  with  God'  by  what 
He  said.  If  He  really  did  do  so,  and  did  intend  by  His 
words  to  do  so,  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  He  would 
have  replied  to  them  in  the  way  He  did.    And  it  is  very 


INTEODrCTION.  25 

natural  that  unbelievers  should  lay  hold  of  this  passage,  as 
it  is  sometimes  explained,  to  raise  from  it  a  charge  of 
quibbling  and  dishonesty  against  Him,  whose  every  word 
is  Truth.  But  there  is  no  ground  for  supposing  that  our 
Lord  did  intend  by  these  words,  '  I  and  my  Father  are  One,' 
to  express  that  Divine  Truth,  which  was  afterwards  so 
clearly  enounced  by  St.  John,  '  The  "Word  was  with  God, 
and  the  Word  v/as  God.'  He  was  not  then  speaking  at  all 
of  His  Substantial  Unity  with  the  Father,  but  only  pf  His 
Unity  of  Will  and  Word  with  Him.  We  see  this  at  once, 
if  we  look  at  the  context.  '  My  Father,  which  gave  them 
me,  is  greater  than  all,  and  no  man  is  able  to  pluck  them 
out  of  my  Father's  Hand.  I  and  my  Father  are  One.' 
(John  X.  29,  30.)  He  had  just  before  said,  '/give  unto 
my  sheep  Eternal  Life,  and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither 
shall  any  man  pluck  them  out  of  my  Hand.'  Why  ?  'Be- 
cause I  am  only  carrying  out  the  Will  and  Purpose  of  my 
Father,  who  is  above  all.  They  are  in  His  Hand,  if  they 
are  in  ^nine.  Because  I  come  from  Him,  therefore  my 
Word  is  His ;  I  am  commissioned  and  empowered  to  declare 
His  Mind  and  Will ;  all  that  I  say  and  do  is  in  His  name. 
It  is  one  and  the  same  thing  to  say  that  I  will  keep  them, 
and  to  say  that  He  will  keep  them.  For  I  and  my  Father 
are  One,  and  I  do  always  such  things,  and  such  things  only, 
as  please  Him,  and  speak  such  words  as  I  have  heard  from 
Him.'  Our  Lord  seems  to  have  intended  no  more  than 
this  by  the  expression,  though  it  sounded  to  the  Jews  as  if 
He  were  taking  higher  ground  than  any  mere  man  might 
take.  They  were  offended  that  He  coupled  Himself,  a 
mere  man  as  they  regarded  Him,  in  one  breath  with  the 
2 


26  INTKODUCTION. 

Majesty  of  God.  *He  made  Himself  equal,'  they  said, 
'  with  God.'  And  yet  in  truth  He  did  not,  and  did  not  in- 
tend to  do  so  by  these  words,  but  only  to  express  that  His 
Mind  was  wholly  one  with  the  Mind  of  his  Eternal  Father, 
who  had  sanctified  Him,  and  sent  Him  into  the  world.  It 
does  not  appear  that  our  Lord  ever  confessed  His  Divinity 
on  Earth,  or  revealed  His  full  Name  to  His  disciples,  until 
that  last  evening,  when  He  spoke  of '  the  Glory,  which  He 
had  with  His  Father  before  the  w^orld  was.'  Otherwise  all 
His  expressions  might  be,  and  probably  were,  understood, 
even  by  His  chosen  followers,  as  the  words  of  a  mere  man, 
a  chosen  Messenger  of  God,  having  something  strange,  no 
doubt,  and  mysterious  about  Him,  but  a  man  still  like  unto 
themselves,  though  one  wholly  intent  upon  fulfilling  to  the 
uttermost  the  work  of  Him  w^ho  sent  Him.  They  did  not 
even  receive  the  full  meaning  of  those  deep  words,  which 
He  uttered  in  His  last  solemn  prayer.  If  they  had  done  so, 
or  believed  fully  in  Him  who  spoke  them,  is  it  possible  that 
they  should  have  turned  away  that  very  night  in  panic 
terror,  when  they  '  all  forsook  Him  and  fled '  ?  It  was  for 
the  Spirit  to  take  afterwards  of  the  things  of  Christ  and 
reveal  them  to  the  Apostles,  and  through  them  to  the 
w^orld. 

Professing  then  such  a  faith  as  that  above  described,  and 
making  such  an  acknowledgment  as  this  of  Him,  w^hom  God 
had  made  both  Lord  and  Christ,  v/ere  those  three  thousand 
baptized  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  and  many  others  after- 
wards. The  narrative  in  the  Acts,  and  the  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  sufficiently  show  that  many  were  admitted  into  the 
Church  by  baptism,  in  those  early  days,  who  were  very  de- 


INTKODUCTION.  27 

ficient  in  that  which  we  should  now  consider  an  intellio;ent 
knowledge  of  the  Christian  Faith.  The  best  of  them  were 
still  devout  and  pious  Jews  in  heart  and  practice,  though 
baptized  into  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  recognising  His  Divine 
Mission.  Such,  we  may  believe,  were  those,  who  took  back 
to  Rome  the  first  tidings  of  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  after 
the  Day  of  Pentecost.  They  had  no  presbyters  or  deacons 
among  them,  much  less  a  bishop  in  the  later  sense  of  the 
word ;  for  none  had  yet  been  ordained  in  the  Christian 
Church,  even  at  Jerusalem.  They  were  merely  individual 
Jews,  or  Roman  proselytes,  as  Jewish  as  their  teachers — 
perhaps  more  so,  if  possible,  from  the  very  sacrifices  they 
had  made  to  obtain  their  present  standing.  They  had  pro- 
fessed their  faith  in  the  Crucified,  as  the  Messiah  who  v/as 
to  come  for  the  Jewish  nation,  and,  in  so  doing,  they  had, 
of  course,  passed  censure  on  the  act  which  had  condemned 
Him.  But  they  saw  no  reason  for  forsaking  their  own  body 
at  Rome,  their  own  modes  of  worship,  their  own  rulers  and 
elders.  They  may,  perchance,  have  propagated  to  one  and  an- 
other the  views,  which  they  themselves  had  adopted.  They 
may  possibly  have  baptized  a  few  in  the  faith,  by  lay-bap- 
tism of  course,  as  there  seems  to  have  been  no  pastor,  and 
no  ordained  minister  of  any  kind,  among  them.  But  such 
teaching  as  this  could  not  have  gone  very  far,  and  we  find, 
in  fact,  no  sign  of  any  distinct  Church  existing  at  Home^ 
lohen  the  Apostle  first  came  to  it,  more  than  thirty  years 
after  the  Day  of  Pentecost.  '  The  brethren  '  were  still  not 
too  numerous  to  be  able  to  go  out  and  meet  St.  Paul  upon 
the  road,  without  attracting  special  notice.  They  were  still 
not    so    separated  from  the  great   body   of  their   fellow- 


28  INTEODUCTION. 

countrymen  at  Rome,  as  to  have  excited  any  sinister  sus- 
picions in  the  minds  of  the  '  chief  of  the  Jews,'  as  to  the 
evil  tendency  of  the  views  which  they  had  embraced.  They 
were  regarded  still  at  Rome  as  a  mere  sect  of  the  Jews, 
and,  probably,  themselves  had  as  yet  no  distinct  idea  of 
the  true  doctrine  of  God's  grace  in  the  Gospel.  The  best 
of  them  were  what  Aquila  and  Priscilla  might  have  been, 
humanly  speaking,  had  they  never  met  with  St.  Paul,  or 
what  Apollos  might  have  been,  had  he  never  been  taken 
in  hand  by  them,  and  '  taught  the  way  of  God  more  per- 
fectly.' 

For  such,  probably,  were  Aquila  and  Priscilla  them- 
selves, when  St.  Paul  found  them  at  Corinth,  fresh  from 
Italy,  that  is,  from  Rome,  'because  Claudius  had  com- 
manded all  Jews  to  depart  from  Rome.'  Knowing  some- 
thing already  of  the  faith  of  Jesus,  and  probably,  already 
baptized  into  that  faith,  though  still  mixing  familiarly  as 
Jews  with  their  Jewish  brethren  (and,  indeed,  there  was 
no  Christian  Church  at  Corinth  at  this  time),  they  were 
naturally  attracted  to  St.  Paul  on  his  arrival,  and  he  to 
them.  Taldng  up  his  abode  with  them,  he  would  soon  find 
how  imperfect  their  views  were  of  the  Christian  Doctrine, 
how  Jewish  their  sentiments.  But,  day  by  day,  during 
those  eighteen  months,  he  would  have  opportunities  of  set- 
ting forth  the  truth  to  them.  And  he  so  won  their  hearts 
to  the  true  Spirit  of  the  Gospel,  that  they  went  with  him 
from  Corinth  to  Ephesus,  and  there  vrere  enabled  to  do  for 
Apollos  what  St.  Paul  himself  had  done  for  them. 

Meanwhile  how  natural  that,  during  this  long  interval, 
the  state  of  things  at  Rome  should  often  be  the  subject  of 


INTEODrCTION.  29 

discourse  between  tlie  Apostle  and  his  two  friends !  They 
knew  all  about  it,  and  could  teU'him  the  names  of  all  those 
in  Rome,  who  like  themselves,  had  adopted  the  Christian 
faith,  however  imperfect  might  be  their  knowledge  of  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  llow^  otherwise^  did  St.  Paul  come 
to  know  the  names  of  so  many  of  the  residetits  in  Home,  sl 
city  which  he  had  never  seen  ?  In  one  chapter  of  this 
Epistle,  writing  to  persons,  to  whom  he  appears  to  have 
been  a  perfect  stranger  in  the  flesh,  he  sends  more  saluta- 
tions than  in  all  his  other  Epistles  put  together.  May  it 
not  be  that  the  twenty-eight  persons  mentioned  by  name, 
and  the  others  referred  to  in  Rom.  xvi.,  comprise  really  the 
whole  register,  as  it  were,  the  church-roll,  of  believers  at 
that  time  in  Rome  ?  Writing  to  perfect  strangers,  would 
not  St.  Paul's  innate  courtesy,  as  well  as  his  great  tact,  lead 
him  to  show  an  interest  in  each  individual  person,  if  pos- 
sible, by  sending  so  many  salutations,  winning  access  for  his 
words  in  this  way  to  their  hearts,  and  smoothing  down  any 
little  asperity  of  feeling,  which  his  sharper  language,  in  the 
course  of  the  Epistle,  might  possibly  have  aroused  ? 

Let  it  be  observed,  however,  that  this  does  not  at  all 
affect  the  general  question,  to  what  sort  of  persons  this 
Epistle  was  written.  Whether  they  were  known  to  St. 
Paul  beforehand  or  not,  whether  he  had  heard  about  them 
individually  from  Aquila  and  Priscilla  or  not,  still  it  is  cer- 
tain that  in  this  Epistle  he  is  writing  to  persons,  who,  while 
professing  Christianity,  and  living  faithfully  according  to 
their  light,  are  still  possessed  with  Jewish  principles  and 
prejudices,  and  in  danger  of  substituting,  for  the  Gospel  of 
Grod's  grace  to  man,  merely  a  new  edition  of  Judaism.    As 


30  INTEODUCTION. 

it  seems,  however,  highly  probable  that  he  did  actually  get 
his  information,  about  the  state  of  things  in  Rome,  from 
Aquila  and  Priscilla,  and  others  like  them,  whom  he  met 
with  abroad,  I  shall  conform  my  language  to  this  supposi- 
tion. The  reader,  who  may  not  feel  the  same  strong  con- 
viction on  this  point,  will  see  that  it  is  immaterial,  as  re- 
gards the  interpretation  of  the  Epistle  itself.  But,  certainly? 
starting  with  this  assumption,  we  can  account  most  natural- 
ly for  the  Apostle  writing  such  an  Epistle,  and  for  the  tone 
which  he  adopts  throughout  it. 

We  may  now  form  a  better  conception  of  the  circum- 
stances under  which  St.  Paul  wrote  this  Epistle.  He  had 
now  arrived  at  Corinth  for  the  second  time.  He  had  left 
Aquila  and  Priscilla  behind  at  Ephesus,  while  he  himself 
went  up  to  Jerusalem  (xviii.  21,  &c.),  and  afterwards  passed 
through  Galatia,  Phrygia,  &c.,  on  his  way  back  to  Ephesus, 
where  in  the  interim  Aquila  and  Priscilla  had  been  in- 
structing Apollos,  and  had  sent  him  on  to  Corinth.  Did 
he  find  them  still  at  Ephesus?  From  1  Cor.  xvi.  19  it 
would  seem  that  he  did,  and  that  for  some  part,  at  least, 
of  the  two  years  (Acts  xix.  10),  which  he  spent  at  Ephesus, 
they  continued  with  him.  '  After  these  things  were  ended, 
Paul  purposed  in  the  sj^irit,  when  he  had  passed  through 
Macedonia  and  Achaia,  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  saying.  After  I 
have  been  there,  I  must  also  see  Rome.'  (Acts  xix.  21.) 
What  made  him  jttst  now  think  of  going  to  Rome  ?  Was 
it  that  he  had  latelT/  parted  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  and 
that  they  had  gotie  back  to  Rome,  the  edict  of  Claudius 
being  no  longer  in  existence  ?    He  sent  Timothy  and  Eras- 


* 

INTKODrCTION.  31 

tus  forward  into  Macedonia  to  announce  his  coming,  and 
'  himself  stayed  in  Asia  for  a  season.'  Then  came  the  up- 
roar at  Ephesus,  about  the  goddess  Diana ;  after  which  St. 
Paul  left  that  city,  spent  some  time  in  visiting  the  churches 
of  Macedonia,  '  going  over  those  parts,  and  giving  them 
much  exhortation,'  and  then  x;ame  into  Greece,  and  so,  no 
doubt,  though  it  is  not  named  in  the  history  of  the  Acts,  to 
Corinth.  He  abode  in  Greece  '  three  months,'  perhaps, 
chiefly  at  Corinth,  where  '  Erastus,  the  chamberlain  of  the 
city,'  was  with  him,  when  he  wrote  to  the  Romans  (Rom. 
xvi.  23).  And  accordingly,  we  find  that,  though  Erastus 
was  sent  on  from  Asia  with  Timothy,  he  does  not  return 
into  Asia  with  him  (Acts  xx.  4). 

Supposing  now  that  Aquila  and  Prisciila  remamed  at 
Ephesus  with  St.  Paul,  till  the  end  (or  nearly)  of  the  '  two 
years,'  we  shall  have  (allowing  one  or  two  months  for  the 
'season'  mentioned  in  Acts  xix.  22,  and  two  or  three  for 
the  time  spent  in  Macedonia)  an  interval  of  some  three  or 
five  months — perhaps,  even  eight  or  ten — ^between  his 
parting  with  Aquila  and  Prisciila,  and  his  being  again  at 
Corinth,  purposing  to  '  see  Rome.'  There  was  time,  in 
short,  for  them  to  have  returned  to  Rome,  where  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  finds  them  (xvi.  3),  and  get  comfort- 
ably settled ;  and  St.  Paul  might  have  distinctly  on  his 
mind  the  conversations  he  had  had  with  them,  the  persons 
they  and  others  had  named  to  him,  and  the  promise,  which 
he  may  very  possibly  have  made  to  them,  of  coming  to 
Rome  in  person  as  God  gave  him  opportunity.  It  is  true 
some  time  had  now  passed  since  Aquila  and  Prisciila  them- 
selves had  left  Rome  originally,     St.  Paul  had  sj)ent  one 


»    - 

32  INTRODUCTION. 

year  and  six  months  with  them.  Since  th*en,  as  a  little  cal- 
culation will  show,  probably  two  years  and  a  half  or  three 
years  must  have  elapsed  before  St.  Paul  is  found  again  at 
Corinth.  So  then  four  or  five  years  must  have  passed 
since  they  left  Rome,  before  St.  Paul  wrote  his  Epistle  to 
the  Romans.  It  may  be  asked,  was  there  no  change  among 
the  believers  at  Rome  in  this  interval,  so  that  those,  whom 
they  left  there  as  such,  were  still  living  there  and  were  stiU 
believers  ?  But  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  this.  Why 
might  not  *  strangers  from  Rome,'  Jews  or  proselytes,  come 
to  Ephesus  during  the  two  years  he  spent  there,  and  have 
been  the  means  of  acquainting  the  Apostle  and  his  two 
friends  with  any  change  of  circumstances  at  Rome,  np  to 
the  time  when  Priscilla  and  Aquila  set  sail  for  Rome,  iu 
advance,  we  may  suppose,  of  St.  Paul  himself?  May  they 
not  even  have  communicated  again  with  the  Apostle  after 
their  return  to  Rome,  as  to  the  actual  state  of  things  in 
that  city  ?  Though  no  mention  is  made  in  this  Epistle  of 
such  a  letter  having  reached  him,  it  would  be  easy  to  ac- 
count for  this  not  being  stated  under  the  circumstances. 

Let  us  suppose  then  the  Apostle  at  Corinth,  having 
parted  not  long  ago  from  his  two  friends,  Aquila  and 
Priscilla,  who  are  now  again  settled  at  Rome,  and  are 
accordingly  saluted  by  him  first  among  those,  to  whom  his 
letter  is  addressed.  He  finds  Phoebe,  a  deaconess  of  the 
church  at  Cenchrea,  one  of  the  two  ports  of  Corinth,  about 
to  sail  for  Rome.  And  he  decides  to  write  a  letter  by  her 
to  the  believers  at  Rome,  most  of  whom,  indeed,  were 
unknown  to  him  in  person,  but  with  all  of  whom  he  felt 
himself,  as  it  were,  at  home,  through  the  reports  which  he 


LNTEODUCTION.  33 

had  received  from  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  and,  perhaps,  from 
others.  At  all  events,  he  is  sure  that  his  letter  will  be  wel- 
comed by  his  two  friends.  They^  at  least,  will  thoroughly 
understand  the  meaning,  and  enter  into  the  spirit,  of  it. 
They  had,  doubtless,  gone  back  to  Rome  charged  by  their 
own  enlightened  consciences,  as  well  as,  possibly,  by  the 
Apostle's  direct  injunctions — taught,  certainly,  by  his  prac- 
tice, which  they  had  so  long  witnessed  so  closely — ^to  do  their 
own  utmost  to  break  down  the  Judaism  of  the  Romish 
believers,  and  spread  among  them  right  notions  of  the  free 
grace  of  God  in  Christ.  They  would  find  this  work,  of 
course,  one  of  extreme  difficulty.  They  must  surely  have 
attempted  it,  after  the  training  they  had  themselves.  It  is 
not  impossible,  as  has  been  above  suggested,  that,  even 
since  their  return  to  Rome,  they  may  have  reported  to  the 
Apostle  such  a  state  of  feeling  existing  there,  as  to  have 
given  the  tone  to  this  letter.  Otherwise,  St.  Paul  must 
have  known  enough  of  the  Jewish  prejudices,  which  he 
found  prevailing  everywhere,  and  which,  from  some  source 
or  other,  he  had  reason  to  believe  prevailed  very  strongly 
among  the  most  pious  believers  at  Rome,  to  have  no  doubt 
as  to  the  object  at  which  he  must  mainly  aim  in  writing, 
namely,  to  remove,  if  possible,  that  inveterate  notion  of  the 
Jews'  superiority  and  high  standing  in  God's  favour,  which 
was  a  worm  lying  at  the  root  of  all  their  Christian  profes- 
sion. Indeed,  the  delicate  manner,  in  which,  from  the  very 
first,  he  sets  himself  to  this  work,  leads  strongly  to  the 
behef  that  he  had  had  some  previous  intimations  of  the 
necessity  for  such  a  letter  from  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  and  a 
request  that  he  would  send  it.  Either  by  a  special  commu- 
3* 


f     ' 

34  INTEODUCTION. 

nication  from  Rome  itself,  or  else  by  their  many  previous 
conversations  with  him,  they  must  have  made  him  strongly 
sensible  that  such  an  effort  was  needed.  He  must  have 
had  some  information  given  him  about  the  believers  at 
Kome,  which  led  him  to  address  them  as  he  has  done, 
approaching  them  at  first  as  strangers,  with  all  possible 
courtesy  and  respect,  manifestly  endeavouring  to  avoid  at 
the  very  outset  giving  them  any  offence,  by  provoking 
their  Jewish  prejudices,  yet  afterwards,  for  chapter  after 
chapter,  plunging  into  arguments,  which  could  only  be  intel- 
ligible to  one  of  thoroughly  Jewish  training,  whether  a  Jew 
by  birth  or  a  proselyte,  and  reasoning  at  times  almost  in  a 
tone  of  severity  and  indignation  with  them. 


ST.  PAUL'S 

EPISTLE    TO    THE    EOMAK'S. 


CHAP.  I.   1—7. 


(1)  Paul,  a  bondman  of  Jesus  Christ,  called  to  he 
an  Apostle,  separated  unto  the  Gospel  of  God,  (2) 
(which  He  had  promised  before  by  His  prophets  in  Holy- 
Scriptures,)  (3)  concerning  His  Son,  (who  came  of  the 
seed  of  David  according  to  the  flesh,  (4)  who  was  de- 
fined to  he  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  according  to 
the  Spirit  of  Holiness,  in  consequence  of  the  resur- 
rection from  the  dead,)  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  (5) 
through  whom  we  received  grace  and  apostleship,  unto 
obedience  of  faith  among  all  the  nations,  for  the  honour 
of  His  Name,  (6)  among  whom  are  ye  also,  called  ones 
of  Jesus  Christ ;  (7)  to  all  that  are  in  Rome,  beloved 
ones  of  God,  called  to  he  saints,  grace  to  you  and  peace 
from  God  our  Father,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

NOTES. 

1.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  St.  Paul  is  here  writing  (i)  to  persons 
who  were  strangers  to  himself  in  person,  (ii)  to  people  of  the  great  imperial 
city,  (iii)  to  men,  whom  he  believes  to  be  imbued  with  very  strong  Jewish 


36  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

prejudices,  (iv)  to  men,  however,  whom,  as  Uvmg  in  the  very  centre  of  the 
Koman  world,  he  is  most  anxious  to  conciliate  by  every  fair  means,  and  to 
win  their  attention  to  his  words,  before  he  goes  on  to  uproot  some  of  their 
most  cherished  convictions.  This  will  account  for  many  of  the  expres- 
sions in  this  introductory  passage,  and  for  the  general  style  of  the  whole 
of  it. 

We  may  notice  that  it  is  somewhat  long  and  formal — not  Hke  the  short 
salutations  to  the  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Colossians,  and  Thessalonians,  to 
whom  he  was  pouring  out  the  fulness  of  his  heart,  as  to  familiar  friends 
and  loving  disciples.  In  2  Corinthians  the  address  is  of  the  same  kind, 
when  he  finds  that  they  had  so  readily  attended  to  his  reproofs  in  the  first. 
But  in  1  Corinthians  and  Galatians  there  is  the  same  characteristic  as 
here,  a  certain  stiShess  and  formality,  which  betrays  that  he  is  writmg,  in 
the  case  of  those  two  Epistles,  to  churches  which  made  him  uneasy  and 
unhappy  by  their  proceedings,  and,  in  the  case  now  before  us,  to  a  body  of 
perfect  strangers,  though  people  of  special  interest  and  importance. 

2.  V.  1.  a  bondman  of  Jesus  Clirist.  By  the  use  of  these  words  at  the 
very  outset,  he  disclaims  all  notion  of  his  writing  to  them  in  his  own  name  ; 
he  disarms  all  hostiUty,  and  takes  away  all  occasion  for  offence,  on  account 
of  his  seeming  to  intrude  himself  upon  persons  unknown  to  him,  and  into 
matters  with  which  he  had  no  concern.  '  I  am  but  a  servant,  or  rather  a 
bondman,  who  must  do  the  Master's  work  ;  and  I  am  doing  it  here,  as  best 
I  can,  in  writing  this  to  you.  This  must  be  my  apology  to  you,  for  the 
seeming  abruptness  of  this  act  of  mine,  in  thus  undertaking  to  address  you, 
though,  most  of  you,  perfect  strangers  to  me  in  the  flesh.' 

Though  the  word  '  bondman'  or  '  slave'  sounds  harsh  to  English  ears, 
it  is  desirable  to  retain  it  here  and  in  other  places,  in  such  a  translation  as 
this,  in  which  it  is  sought  to  represent  as  accurately  as  possible,  in  an  Eng- 
lish version,  the  Greek  original. 

It  is  worth  notice,  perhaps,  that  he  does  not  use  this  formula,  '  bond- 
man or  slave,  &c.,'  in  any  of  his  salutations  to  the  other  Churches,  where 
his  person  was  already  well  known,  except  that  to  the  Philippians  he  speaks 
of  himself  mid  Timothy  together  as  '  bondmen  of  Jesus  Christ,'  dropping 
the  mention  of  his  apostleship  altogether,  when  addressing  this  flock  '  dearly 
beloved  and  longed  for,'  his  'joy  and  crown.'  So  too  in  those  addressed 
to  Timothy  and  Philemon.  But  in  that  to  Titus  he  does  use  the  double 
formula,  '  bondman  of  God,  but  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,'  and  his  salutation 
again  is  long  and  formal.  Was  he,  in  fact,  well  known  in  person  to  the 
churches  in  Crete  ?  It  is  plain  that  he  had  visited  that  island,  as  he  had 
left  Titus  behind.  But  he  left  him  to  '  ordain  elders  in  every  city,' — as  he 
'  had  appointed  him.'    Does  not  this  very  expression  intimate  that  there 


CHAP.  I.  i — 7.  37 

was  not  the  same  familiar  personal  intimacy  between  St.  Paul  and  these 
churches,  as  between  the  other  churches  that  he  had  planted  ?  He  had 
not  lived  eighteen  months  or  two  years  among  them,  as  he  had  at  Corinth 
and  Ephesus ;  (Timothy  was  to  ordain  elders,  but  not  '  in  every  city ').  At 
all  events,  we  have  no  intimation  of  any  protracted  sojourn  in  Crete.  And 
the  strong  terms  he  uses  in  speaking  of  the  Cretans, — quoting  the  proverb 
'The  Cretans  are  alway  liars,  evil  beasts,  slow  bellies,'  and  adding  for 
himself,  '  This  witness  is  true,' — seems  to  imply  no  very  close  and  intimate 
relations  with  them. 

3.  V.  1.  called  to  he  an  apostle.  '  As  a  servant,  I  have  an  office  and 
charge  committed  to  me,  being  called  and  commissioned  of  God,  not  self- 
constituted  or  appointed  by  man,  to  the  work  of  the  apostleship,  one  part 
of  which  I  am  now  discharging  towards  you.' 

4.  V.  1,  separated  unto  the  Gospel  of  God.  'This  is  the  work,  the 
one  work,  for  which  I  have  been  separated  (Acts  xiii.  2,  Gal.  i.  15)  and  set 
apart,  to  proclaim  God's  blessed  message  of  love  to  the  world.' 

5.  V.  2.  toliich  He  had  promised  before.,  dr.  This  parenthetical  pas- 
sage, and  the  one  that  shortly  follows,  are  specially  intended  to  touch  pleas- 
antly the  hearts  of  his  Jewish  readers.  He  is  feeling  his  way  into  their 
confidences.  But  we  partly  lose  the  force  of  the  original  here  in  the  Eng- 
lish translation.  The  same  Greek  root  is  found  in  the  word  for  Gospel, 
and  that  translated  '  promised  before.'  Perhaps  a  rude  notion  of  how  it 
reads  in  the  Greek  may  be  gained,  by  remembering  that  the  word  Gospel 
means  Good  Spell^  or  good  tidings,  and  by  using  the  word  '  spell '  in  the  old 
sense  of  '  declare  or  deliver  tidings ' — so  translating  '  separated  unto  the 
Gospel  of  God,  which  He  had  before  spelled  (published,  intimated)  in  Holy 
Scriptures.'  Wishing,  as  has  been  said,  to  win  his  way  softly  into  their  con- 
fidences, he  tells  them,  as  soon  as  possible,  that  he  is  not  coming  to  do 
away  with  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  overthrow  the  grand  hope 
of  the  Jewish  nation.  Where  he  can  avoid  it,  he  would  not  give  any  of- 
fence to  his  Jewish  readers.  He  will  turn  their  very  prejudices  into  pre- 
possessions in  favour  of  the  truths  of  Christianity.  The  Gospel,  he  tells 
them,  of  which  he  is  the  preacher,  is  no  oiew  thing,  only  the  development 
of  that  which  Avas  preached  of  old  to  their  fathers,  only  the  fulfilment  and 
realization  of  that  which  had  been  all  along  declared  and  promised  to  them. 

6.  v.  3.  ivho  came  of  the  seed  of  David,  d'c.  So  too  the  Son  of  God, 
of  whom  the  Gospel  testifies,  came,  he  says,  of  the  seed  of  David  by  his 
natural  descent,  and  thus  the  ancient  words  of  their  own  prophets  were  ful- 
filled. 

1.  v.  4.  defined  to  he  the  Son  of  God  with  poioer.  But  that  vrhich  de- 
fined, determined,  distinguished,  marked  Him.  out,  from  all  others  of  human 


38  EPISTLE   TO    THE   EOMANS. 

birth,  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  was  (not  the  resurrection  itself, 
but)  that  lohich  followed  from  the  resurrection^  the  manifestation  that  was 
made  of  the  glory  now  given  to  Him  as  the  Son  of  God,  '  exalted  to  the 
right  hand  of  power,'  having  '  all  power  given  to  Him  in  heaven  and  earth.' 
That  consequence  of  the  resurrection  was  the  pouring  out  of  the  Spirit 
upon  all  flesh — the  sending  forth  His  messengers  unto  all  the  ends  of  the 
earth — the  giving  power  to  them  to  preach,  and  to  their  hearers  to  receive 
their  words — the  giving  '  grace  and  apostleship  unto  the  obedience  of  faith 
among  all  nations.'  In  this  way  was  the  Lord  Jesus  clearly  '  marked  out ' 
to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  in  consequence  of  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead.  Thus  St.  Peter  said,  '  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up,  whereof 
we  all  are  witnesses.  Therefore  being  by  the  right  hand  of  God  exalted, 
and  having  received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  He  hath 
shed  forth  this  which  ye  now  see  and  hear  ;  '  and  again,  '  Him  hath  God 

exalted  with  his  right  hand  to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour And  we  are 

witnesses  of  these  things,  and  so  also  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  God  hath 
given  to  them  that  obey  Him.''  In  the  following  passage,  St.  Peter  speaks 
of  our  Lord  as  being  '  defined '  or  '  marked  out '  by  the  Resurrection  itself, 
without  referring  to  the  consequences  of  it.  '  Him  God  raised  up  the  third 
day,  and  shewed  Him  openly,  not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto  witnesses 
chosen  before  of  God,  even  to  us,  who  did  eat  and  drink  with  Him  after 
He  rose  from  the  dead ;  and  He  commanded  us  to  preach  unto  the  people, 
and  to  testify  that  it  is  He  which  was  marked  out  of  God  to  be  the  Judge  of 
the  quick  and  the  dead.'  And  so  also  St.  Paul :  '  He  hath  appointed  a  day, 
in  the  which  He  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  that  man  whom 
He  has  marked  out,  whereof  He  hath  given  assurance  unto  all  men,  in  that 
He  hath  raised  Him  from  the  dead.^  Thus  was  He  '  defined  to  be  the  Son 
of  God  with  power,  according  to  the  Spirit  of  Holiness,  (a  Hebraism  for  the 
Holy  Spirit,)  out  of,  in  consequence  of,  the  resurrection  from  the  dead.' 

8.  V.  5.  tee  received  grace  aoid  apostleship,  &c.  '  We  (probably  meant 
for  I)  received /)-om  God  the  Fathei',  through  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  Head  of 
the  Church,  hy  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  dispenser  of  all  grace  or  favour  from 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  the  grace  (xii.  3)  which  enables  for  the  apostleship.' 

9.  V.  5.  unto  the  obedience  of  faith  among  all  the  nations — that  so 
there  may  be  the  '  obedience  of  faith '  in  every  nation  throughout  the 
world — the  obedience  springing  from  a  living  trust  in  God's  Love,  the 
obedience  of  the  heart  to  the  spirit  of  God's  Law,  not  the  slavish  obedience 
to  the  letter — to  the  honour  of  that  Divine  Name,  in  whose  strength  alone 
such  results  would  be  obtained  and  such  obedience  rendered. 

10.  V.  6.  called  ones,  beloved  ones.  These  expressions,  as  well  as  that 
of  '  saints,'  that  is,  holy  ones,  consecrated,  set  apart  for  God,  are  used  here, 


CHAP.  I.  8 — 12.  39 

as  elsewhere,  to  describe  all  Christians,  as  we  say  '  the  faithful,'  '  believers,' 
&e.  Chi'istians  are  said  to  be  '  called,  beloved,  set  apart  for  God,'  though 
they  may  not  be  walking  worthily  of  their  vocation,  nor  of  the  grace  or 
favour,  whereby  they  have  been  distinguished,  nor  of  the  work  which  God's 
Spirit  has  been  working  within  them,  to  fit  them  for  God's  special  service 
here  and  for  His  brighter  glory  hereafter. 

CHAP.  I.   8—12. 

(8)  And,  first,  I  thank  my  God  througli  Jesus 
Christ  on  behalf  of  you  all,  because  your  faith  is  being 
told  of  in  all  the  world.  (9)  For  God  is  my  witness, 
(to  whom  I  do  religious  service  with  my  spirit  in  the 
Gospel  of  His  Son),  how  incessantly  I  make  mention 
of  you,  (10)  always  at  my  prayers  making  request,  if 
may-be  at  last,  some  time  or  other,  I  may  be  conducted 
prosperously,  through  the  will  of  God,  to  come  to  you. 

(11)  For  I  long  to  see  you,  that  so  I  may  impart  to 
you   some  spiritual  gift,  to  your  being  established — 

(12)  that  is,  to  my  being  comforted  together  among 
you,  by  the  mutual  faith  both  of  you  and  me. 

NOTES. 

11.  V.  8.  through  Jems  Christ.  All  the  Apostle's  communion  with 
God  is  through  his  Lord. 

12.  V.  8.  in  all  the  world.  This,  of  course,  is  hyperbolical  language. 
He  means  that  he  had  heard  of  them  in  various  places,  far  away  from 
Rome,  at  Corinth  certainly,  and,  probably,  at  Ephesus,  and  elsewhere. 

13.  V.  9.  do  religious  service.  The  English  word  '  serve '  does  not  here 
give  the  full  force  of  the  original  Greek,  which  is  exclusively  applied  in  the 
New  Testament  to  the  performance  of  religious  service,  particularly  to  the 
worship  of  God  in  the  Temple,  or  even  to  the  worship  going  on  in  heathen 
temples.  St.  Paul  seems  to  imply  that,  though  not  a  priest,  employed  to 
minister  in  the  temple  service,  with  outward  forms  and  ceremonies,  at 
stated  times,  he  was  yet  employed  in  a  religious  service,  which  was  inward 
and  spiritual,  and  going  on  at  all  times,  '  incessantly,'  as  he  says,  in  the 
secret  utterances  of  the  heart,  as  well  as  in  his  set  times  of  prayer.  In 
such  a  service,  with  his  spirit,  he  was  continually  offering  up  prayers,  such 


40  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

as  not  himself  only,  but  all  Christians,  the  whole  '  spiritual  priesthood,' 
had  the  duty  and  privilege  of  offering. 

14,  V.  11.  some  spiritual  gift ;  that  is,  not  any  extraordinary  miracu- 
lores  gift,  but  such  consolation  and  spiritual  support  and  blessing,  as  he 
might  be  the  means  of  imparting,  by  having  personal  intercourse  and  con- 
versation with  them,  and  opportunities  of  setting  forth  to  them  more  fully 
the  living  truths  of  God's  Love  in  the  Gospel, 

15.  V,  12,  that  is,  to  my  being  comforted  together  among  you.  Here, 
with  a  delicacy  characteristic  of  St.  Paul,  and  especially  suited  to  the  pres- 
ent circumstances  of  his  writing,  lest  he,  a  mere  stranger  in  the  flesh  to 
them,  should  seem  to  be  arrogating  too  much  to  himself,  in  speaking  of 
coming  to  '  establish '  them,  he  changes  the  form  of  expression,  and  speaks 
of  the  mutual  blessing,  which  they  Avould  receive  from  one  another. 

CHAP.  I.    13-17. 

(13)  But  I  do  not  wish  you  to  be  ignorant,  brethren, 
that  I  often  purposed  to  come  to  you,  and  was  hindered 
hitherto,  that  so  I  may  have  some  fruit  among  you,  as 
also  among  the  other  nations.  (14)  Both  to  Greeks 
and  Barbarians,  both  to  wise  and  simple,  I  am  debtor. 
(15)  So  my  part  is  ready  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  you 
which  are  in  Eome  also.  (16)  For  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  for  the  power  of  God  it  is 
unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth,  both  to  Jew 
first  and  Greek.  (17)  For  the  righteousness  of  God  is 
being  revealed  in  it,  (a  righteousness)  from  faith  unto 
faith,  as  it  is  written,  ^  The  righteous  shall  live  out  of 
faith.' 

NOTES, 

IG,  V.  13,  loften-pmyosed  .  .  .  and  was  hindered.  St.  Paul  wishes 
them  to  know  these  two  facts,  both  that  he  often  purposed,  and  that  he 
was  hindered,  did  not  change  or  drop  liis  purpose, 

lY.  V,  13.  til  at  so  I  may  have  some  fruit  also  among  you, — not  'that 
I  might,''  but  '  that  I  may '  have  fruit  among  you,  not  at  some  one  time,  or 
at  particular  times,  but  permanently,  at  all  times,  as  the  abiding  result  of 
my  labours. 


CHAP.  I.  13—17.  41 

18.  V.  14.  Greeks  and  Barbarians.  As  the  Jews  divided  the  whole 
human  race  into  two  classes,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  which  last  word  was  equiv- 
alent to  foreigners,  men  of  the  nations  (Zulu,  abaniu  bezizice),  so  the  Greeks 
summed  up  all  mankind  as  either  Greeks  or  Barbarians,  including  in  the 
former  their  Roman  masters  in  the  time  of  the  Apostle.  Or,  rather,  the 
Romans  now  used  these  distinctions,  it  being  their  custom  to  send  their 
sons  to  Athens  to  finish  their  education  by  learning  Greek  as  an  accom- 
plishment, and  studying  the  Greek  philosophy.  Hence  the  expression 
'  Greeks  and  Barbarians '  is  nearly  equivalent  to  '  learned  and  unlearned,' 
intellectual  and  unintellectual,  or,  as  St.  Paul  says,  '  vrise  and  simple.' 

19.  V.  14.  /  ajn  debtor.  I  am  bound  by  my  duty,  as  a  servant  and 
an  apostle,  to  minister  to  all.  I  owe  it  to  them  all  to  do  so.  My  now 
writing  to  you  is  no  act  of  officious  intrusiveness  on  my  part ;  it  is  but  the 
discharge  in  some  measure  of  a  debt  which  I  owe  to  you. 

20.  V.  16.  For  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  The  con- 
nexion of  the  Apostle's  thoughts  seems  to  be  this.  '  Having  a  duty  to  dis- 
charge, I  am  ready  for  my  part  to  preach  the  Gospel  at  Rome  also — yes, 
in  the  midst  of  the  great  Imperial  City — amidst  the  majesty  of  the  Senate, 
the  wisdom  of  the  Schools,  the  glory  of  the  Empire.  For  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  Even  there  at  Rome  also,  among  the  high  and 
mighty,  the  wise  and  prudent, — as  well  as  in  other  places  of  commoner 
name, — it  will  be  found,  now,  as  always,  the  '  power  of  God  unto  salvation ' 
to  every  one  that  believeth.' 

21.  V.  16.  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth. 
These  words  are  the  very  key-ioords  of  the  whole  Epistle.  St.  Paul  is 
gradually,  in  the  most  wise  and  least  offensive  manner,  bringing  forward 
the  three  points,  which  he  means  to  press  hereafter  with  all  his  might, 
breaking  utterly  down  thereby  the  three  great  Jewish  prejudices.  These 
points  are  as  follows : 

(i)  that  salvation  is  wholly  of  God^  wrought  by  His  Power,  bestowed 
by  His  Love,  of  His  own  free  grace  in  the  Gospel,  and  therefore  to  be 
meekly  and  thankfully  received  as  His  gift,  not  arrogantly  claimed  as  a 
matter  of  right ; 

(ii)  that  it  is  meant  for  Jew  and  Gentile  alike,  for  all  that  believe,  with- 
out any  special  favour  or  distinction  ; 

(iii)  that  it  is  to  be  received  by  faith  alone,  by  '  all  that  believe,''  by 
simply  taking  God  at  His  word  and  trusting  in  His  Love,  not  to  be  sought 
by  a  round  of  ceremonial  observances,  or  a<3ts  of  legal  obedience. 

The  Apostle  is  referring  here,  but  only  just  referring  by  a  hint,  as  it 
were, — glancing  at  them  for  a  moment  and  passing  on— but  so  foreshadow- 
ing what  will  be  the  real  substance  of  his  Epistle — to  the  three  great  pre- 


42  EPISTLE   TO   THE   EOMANS. 

possessing  errors  of  the  Jewish  mind,  which,  lying  deep  in  every  Jew's 
heart,  though  perhaps  lying  dormant  for  a  time,  as  in  the  case  of  Nicode- 
mus  and  St.  Peter,  till  circumstances  called  them  into  activity,  entirely  pre- 
vented their  making  progress  in  the  real  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  and,  if  allow- 
ed to  remain,  would  make  their  profession  of  Christianity  only  differ  by  a 
shade  from  that  of  the  most  exclusive  Judaism,  and  efiectually  shut  out 
the  great  body  of  the  heathen  population  of  the  City  from  any  connexion 
with  it. 

These  three  errors  have  been  already  touched  upon.  But,  as  it  is  im- 
portant, in  order  to  get  a  clear  insight  into  the  Apostle's  argument,  that 
they  should  be  distinctly  noted,  it  may  be  well  to  restate  them,  and  the 
corrections  which  the  Apostle  applies  to  them. 

{[)  The  Jew  said,  '  I  am  a  favoured  creature — a  child  of  Abraham,  and 
therefore  a  child  of  God,  and  an  heir  of  His  Kingdom,  whatever  my  life 
may  be.  What  have  /  to  do  with  a  message  of  salvation  ?  Perhaps,  for 
the  heathen  it  may  be  needed.  But  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  mine,  by  vir- 
tue of  the  promise  made  to  my  great  forefather.  I  have  a  right  to  enter 
it.     I  claim  it  as  mine.' 

This  error  St.  Paul  must  correct  by  showing  that  he  had  no  such  right, 
that  he,  the  Jew,  needed  the  free  gift  oi  Righteousness^  as  well  as  all  others 
of  the  human  race — that  he  too  was  '  concluded  under  sin '  like  others, 
and  had  no  claim  whatever,  because  of  God's  promises  to  Abraham,  to  en- 
ter the  Kingdom  as  a  matter  of  right.  He  had,  in  fact,  wholly  mistaken 
the  nature  of  those  promises.  They  were  never  meant  to  give  such  immu- 
nities and  privileges  to  the  mere  natural  descendants  of  Abraham.  The 
Jew  must  be  made  to  feel  his  need,  as  well  as  every  other  human  being, 
of  a  Gospel,  a  glad  life-giving  message,  which  should  be  the  '  Power  of  God 
unto  Salvation '  to  himself  as  well  as  to  others. 

(ii)  But  the  Jew  might  say, '  Suppose  that  I  admit  this,  yet,  at  all  events, 
the  Messiah  is  to  come  specially  for  us.  He  is  to  be  the  carrying  out  and 
realization  of  those  promises  to  our  forefathers,  which  made  us  the  favoured 
people  above  others.  You  do  not  surely  mean  to  say  that  we,  Jews,  the 
children  of  Abraham,  the  chosen  family  of  God,  are  to  be  put  on  an  equality 
with  the  common  Gentile  in  this  respect  ? ' 

'  Yes ! '  St.  Paul  would  say,  '  you  are  to  be  put  on  a  perfect  equality 
with  the  meanest  Gentile.  You  will  stand  no  better  than  they  in  this  re- 
spect— not  a  whit  more  safe  from  God's  wrath — not  a  whit  more  sure  of 
entering  the  Kingdom.  No  difference  whatever  will  be  made  between  Jew 
and  Gentile,  in  the  day  when  God  shall  judge  the  secret  thoughts  and  do- 
ings of  men.  No  special  favour  will  be  shewn  to  you  as  a  Jew,  to  screen 
you  from  the  just  consequences  of  your  doings.     A  righteous  judgment 


CHAP,  I.  13— IT.  43 

will  be  dealt  out  to  all — a  judgment  tempered  with  mercy — by  Him,  who 
knows  the  hearts  and  lives  of  all.  Only  from  those  who,  like  you,  have 
received  more  than  others,  will  the  more  be  required.  You  must  realize, 
in  short,  what  is  meant  when  it  is  said  that  the  Gospel  is  the  '  Power  of 
God  unto  Salvation  unto  every  07ie  that  believeth,'  Jew  and  Gentile  alike. 

(iii)  Still,  however,  the  Jev/  might  persevere  and  say :  '  But  surely  our 
Law  is  not  to  be  done  away  with.  At  all  ovents,  the  Gentiles,  if  they  are 
to  partake  of  the  Gospel,  and  even  to  be  admitted  to  share  on  equal  terms 
with  us,  must  conform  to  our  religion,  and  practise  those  observances, 
which  have  come  down  to  us  through  fifteen  hundred  years  on  the  authority 
of  Moses,  with  the  Divine  Seal  upon  them.  They  must  submit  to  be  cir- 
cumcised, as  we  are ;  they  must  recognise  our  Priesthood  and  Temple  Wor- 
ship, and  practise  our  solemn  rites  and  ceremonies.' 

'  No  ! '  says  the  Apostle  again,  '  Faith,  simple  faith,  a  true,  living,  child- 
like faith  and  trust,  that  worketh  by  love,  this  is  all  that  God  seeks  of  all — 
no  circumcision — no  Jewish  practices  or  peculiarities.  The  formal  observ- 
ances, enjoined  in  the  Law  of  Moses,  were  intended  for  a  season  only,  till 
He  should  come,  to  whom  the  Law  v/as  pointing  all  along.  These  are  all 
now  done  away  in  Christ  Jesus.  '  The  Gospel  is  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth.^ 

We  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  again  to  these  three  points.  For  the 
present,  as  has  been  said,  the  Apostle  does  but  just  hint  at  them,  and  pass 
on,  intending  presently  to  return  deliberately,  and  unfold  the  full  meaning 
of  his  words.  He  wishes  to  break  the  matter  deliberately,  as  it  were,  to 
his  readers — not  to  alarm  their  prejudices,  before  he  has  got  his  hold  fairly 
upon  them,  and  fixed  their  attention  upon  the  subject  he  has  in  hand.  Nev- 
ertheless, in  point  of  fact,  his  words  in  this  single  verse  (v.  16)  do  contain 
a  distinct  contradiction  to  these  three  extravagant  assumptions,  on  which 
the  opposition  of  the  Jewish  mind  to  the  Gospel  was  based.  We  may  take, 
in  short,  this  verse  as  the  7notto  so  to  speak,  to  be  set  at  the  head  of  the 
Epistle,  announcing  the  thesis  which  he  intends  to  maintain  in  it ;  though, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  he  sums  up  the  essence  of  the  Gospel  in  a  yet 
shorter  formula,  '  From  faith  to  faith.' 

22.  V.  16.  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  GreeTc.  Just  before,  when 
thinking  of  Imperial  Rome  and  its  grandeur,  and  of  the  high  spirit,  which, 
perhaps,  he  might  find  in  some  of  those  to  whom  he  is  writing,  as  citizens 
of  the  world's  metropolis,  he  speaks  of  'Greeks  and  Barbarians' — he  uses 
the  Roman  phrase  for  smnming  up  all  mankind.  Now  that  he  is  coming 
to  the  religious  question,  well  knowing  that  any  believers  in  Christianity, 
whom  he  might  find  at  Rome,  either  would  be  Jews  by  birth,  or,  if  heathen 
by  birth,  would  yet  be  thoroughly  imbued  by  education,  as  proselytes,  with 


44:  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

Jewish  notions,  St.  Paul  uses  the  Jewish  formula,  and  speaks  of  Jew  and 
Greek,  the  last  being  another  word  for  Gentile,  because  Greek  was  the  com- 
mon language  in  those  days,  spoken  by  all  the  nations  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  with  whom  the  Jews  came  in  contact  as 

traders. 

23.  V.  11.  the  righteousness  of  God^  that  is,  the  righteousness,  or  state 
of  righteousness,  which  God  gives  graciously  to  man,  as  He  gave  to  Abra- 
ham, when  He  called  him  righteous,  who  in  himself  was  imrighteous,  when 
He  '  counted  his  faith  to  him  for  righteousness.'  Let  this  be  distinctly 
noted  that,  throughout  this  Epistle,  the  righteousness  of  God,  or  God's 
righteousness,  means  God's  gift  of  righteousness— not  God's  own  personal 
inherent  righteousness  or  justice,  not  GocVs  way  of  justifying  sinners,  of 
making  them  righteous,  of  giving  them  righteousness  (which  is  by  giving 
it  to  them  in  His  Son),  but  the  very  righteousness  itself— which  God  gives 
to  men,  so  that  by  His  free  grace  they  stand  before  Him  accepted  and  be- 
loved,— Go(rs  righteousness,  in  short,  opposed  to  Man^s  righteousness,  to 
that  which  a  man  may  fancy  he  can  claim  or  work  out  for  himself.  The 
Jews  prided  themselves  on  haAing  a  righteousness  of  their  own,  a  kind  of 
special  virtue,  which  gave  them  a  claim  to  be  considered  the  *  righteous 
people '  of  the  earth,  and  in  the  strength  of  which  they  might  stand  boldly 
before  God.  That  righteousness,  according  to  their  notion,  they  had  partly 
inherited  by  their  descent  from  '  righteous  Abraham,'  partly  wrought  out, 
or,  at  any  rate,  made  sure  for  themselves,  by  conforming  to  the  rite  of  cir- 
cumcision and  by  their  other  ceremonial  observances.  And  St.  Paul  had 
once  been  as  confident  as  any  of  them  as  to  the  w^orth  of  this  righteousness, 
and  had  reason  to  be  so.  '  If  any  other  man  thinketh  that  he  hath  whereof 
he  might  trust  in  the  flesh,  I  more ;  circumcised  the  eighth  day,  of  the  stock 
of  Israel,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  an  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews ; '  '  having 
profited  in  the  Jews'  rehgion  above  many  mine  equals  in  mine  own  nation, 
being  more  exceedingly  zealous  of  the  traditions  of  our  fathers.'  In  short, 
'  as  touching  the  righteousness  which  is  in  the  law,'  he  was  '  blameless,' 
Such  righteousness  as  this,  Man's  righteousness,  he  had  in  perfection,  if  this 
could  have  served  to  give  him  righteousness  before  God.  '  But  what  things 
w^ere  gain  to  me,'  he  says,  '  those  I  counted  loss  for  Christ,  for  whom  I  have 
suffered  the  loss  of  all  things,'  of  such  righteousness  as  this  among  the  rest, 
'  and  do  count  them  but  dung  that  I  may  win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  Him, 
not  having  mine  own  righteousness,  which  is  of  the  Laiu,  but  that  which  is 
through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness  tchich  is  of  God  hy  faith.'' 

This  then  is  '  God's  righteousness,'  '  the  righteousness  of  God,'  of  which 
so  much  is  said  in  this  Epistle,  that  which  God  gives  us  graciously  to  pos- 
sess before  Him,  if  we  will  meekly  receive  it  at  our  Father's  hands,  as  His 


CHAP.  I.  13— IT.  45 

own  gift,  and  not  claim  it  as  our  right,  by  any  merit- of  birth,  or  any  desert 
of  works.  This  '  righteousness  of  God,'  thus  thankfully  received,  as  His 
own  free  gift,  we  may  then  call  '  our  righteousness ; '  we  may  humbly  and 
joyfully  say,  we  have  righteousness,  we  are  righteous,  before  Him.  It  is 
the  righteousness  which  He  gives  us,  though  in  ourselves  unrighteous,  be- 
cause He  looks  upon  us  in  His  Son.  In  virtue  of  this  we  stand  before  Him 
as  His  children,  accepted  in  the  Beloved.  The  glad  tidings  of  the  Gospel 
are  these,  that,  though  we  neither  have,  nor  can  have,  any  righteousness 
of  our  own  procuring,  which  we  can  dare  to  rest  in,  yet  has  God  provided 
a  righteousness  for  us,  in  which  we  may  appear  before  Him.  We  must 
'submit  ourselves  to  God's  righteousness,'  instead  of  'seeking  to  establish 
our  own  righteousness.'  "We  must  cast  down  before  Him  every  proud,  self- 
righteous  thought  and  imagination ;  and,  trembling  with  thankfulness,  re- 
ceive that  righteousness,  which  He,  of  His  ovm  abounding  grace,  so  freely 
gives  us.  So  shall  we  be  dealt  with  as  righteous  creatures,  being  counted 
righteous  by  Him,  as  Abraham  was,  because  vre  meekly  trust  in  Him — our 
faith  being  reckoned  to  us  for  righteousness,  for  His  own  Loving  Mercy's 
sake,  declared  to  us  in  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord. 

24.  V.  17.  18  being  revealed  in  it.  This  'righteousness  of  God,' — this 
righteousness  which  comes  from  God, — which  is  the  free  gift  of  God — which 
(as  he  will  presently  say)  God  has  given  to  the  whole  human  race,  before 
and  after  the  coming  of  Christ, — is  being  '  revealed,'  he  says,  that  is,  un- 
veiled, in  the  Gospel.  It  is  there  already,  in  the  mind  of  our  Faithful 
Creator,  in  tlie  heart  of  our  Loving  Father.  The  whole  human  race  was 
redeemed  from  the  curse  of  the  Fall,  in  the  counsels  of  Almighty  Wisdom, 
from  all  eternity — the  Lamb  was  slain  '  from  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world.'  Adam  and  Xoah  and  Abraham  and  David,  yes,  the  whole  family 
of  man,  in  the  ages  gone  by,  'good  or  evil,'  'just  or  unjust,'  (in  the  ordi- 
nary sense  of  the  words,  though  all  were  unjust  in  themselves  before  the 
eyes  of  the  Most  Holy,)  were  yet  'justified,'  made  just  or  righteous,  dealt 
with  as  children,  before  any  clear  revelation  was  made  of  the  way  in  which 
that  righteousness  v;as  given  to  them.  The  tokens  of  God's  favour  have 
been  shed  abroad  on  the  human  race  from  the  first.  He  '  gave  them  rain 
from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  their  hearts  with  food  and  glad- 
ness.' He  wrought  by  His  Spirit  on  theirs,  teaching  men  everywhere  to 
'  feel  after  Him,  if  haply  they  might  find  Him,  in  whom  they  lived  and 
moved  and  had  their  being,  who  was  not  far  from  any  one  of  them.'  But 
now  in  the  Gospel  is  being  revealed  the  secret  of  all  this.  There  we  are 
taught  how^  God  loved  us  in  His  Son,  in  whose  image  we  are  all  made,  who 
came  in  due  time,  as  His  Fathei-'s  Wisdom  willed  it,  to  take  our  likeness, 
and  bear  away  the  sins  of  the  world. 


46  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

25.  V.  \^ .  from  faith  unto  faUh,  The  usual  explanation  of  this  exjjres- 
sion  is  '  from  one  degree  of  faith  to  another.'  The  Apostle  is  understood 
to  say  that  our  convictions  will  be  deepened  from  day  to  day  upon  the  sub- 
ject ;  we  shall  see  more  and  more  clearly,  as  we  grow  in  grace,  the  revela- 
tion of  '  God's  righteousness'  in  the  Gospel.  This  interpretation  might  be 
acquiesced  in  but  for  the  very  remarkable  passage  which  occurs  in  iii.  21, 
22,  and  which  appears  to  be  almost,  in  v/ords,  a  resumption  and  expansion 
of  the  identical  language  of  this  verse,  at  the  end  of  the  intervening  passage 
(i.  18 — iii,  20),  which  has  the  appearance  of  a  long  digression,  though  it  is 
not  so  in  reality,  as  we  shall  presently  see.  On  comparing  the  tv,o  passages 
(i.  17  and  iii.  21,  22)  the  resemblance  will  be  observed,  even  in  the  English 
version,  and  still  more  distinctly  in  the  original  Greek.  And  it  will  be  seen 
that,  in  these  latter  two  verses,  the  Apostle  takes  up  again  the  thread  of  his 
argument  in  i.  1 7,  which  he  has  let  go  for  a  while,  for  a  reason  which  will 
presently  be  stated.  Comparing  then  the  two  passages,  and  using  the  ex- 
panded form  of  expression  in  iii.  21,  22,  to  help  us  in  explaining  the  more 
condensed  language  in  i.  17,  we  infer  that,  in  the  words  '  to  faith,'  the  ab- 
stract '  faith '  is  put  for  the  concrete  '  those  that  believe,'  just  as  in  chap. 
ii.  the  words  '  circumcision  '  and  '  uncircumcision '  are  used  for  the  '  cir- 
cumcised '  and  '  uncircumcised.'  And  thus  St.  Paul's  meaning  in  tliis  verse 
will  appear  to  be  this :  '  For  in  it  the  righteousness  of  God  is  being  re- 
vealed, (a  righteousness  arising)  yrowi,  or  out  of,  faith,  (a  righteousness  ex- 
tending) 2(7ito  faith,  that  is,  unto  all  them  that  believe.'  So  Conybeare 
translates :  '  a  righteousness  which  springs  from  faith,  and  which  faith  re- 
ceives.' 

Let  us  compare  now  the  words  of  iii.  21,  22,  where  this  same  formula 
is  resumed.  '  But  nov/,  apart  from  law,  [of  which  he  had  been  speaking 
in  the  digression]  the  righteousness  of  God  has  been  manifested,  (though 
being  witnessed  of  by  the  law  and  the  prophets,)  but  the  righteousness  of 
God,  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  (  =  from  faith),  unto  all  and  upon  all 
them  that  believe  (  =  unto  faith).' 

In  fact  this  verse,  i.  17,  is  but  a  repetition  in  another  form  of  the 
words  just  preceding,  another  summary  of  the  whole  subject  which  occu- 
pies his  thoughts,  and  about  which  he  means  to  write  at  full  length,  an- 
other way  of  stating  the  three  Christian  principles,  which  combat  the  three 
Jewish  prejudices.  Three  times  does  the  Apostle  enunciate  this  summary, 
seeking  to  win  access  for  it  more  and  more,  to  drive  it,  as  it  were,  into  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  his  readers. 

26.  V.  17.  the  righteous  shall  live  out  of  faith.  The  Apostle  merely 
quotes  these  words  of  the  Prophet  Habakkuk,  as  illustrating  the  position 
he  had  taken. 


CHAP.  I.  18—23.  47 

It  is  impossible  not  to  notice  the  rhetorical  ingenuity  of  his  proceeding, 
how  gradually  and  insensibly  he  leads  on  his  Jewish  readers,  repeating 
twice  the  summary  of  the  doctrine  he  wished  to  teach  them,  in  different 
terms,  so  as  to  set  it  plainly  before  their  eyes,  but  then  passing  on,  before 
they  can  see  all  at  once  the  full  depth  of  its  meaning,  and  meanwhile,  in 
case  any  suspicious  misgiving  had  begun  to  cross  their  minds,  reassuring 
them  by  reminding  them,  how  their  own  prophet  Habakkuk  wrote  of  old, 
'  The  righteous  man  shall  live  out  of,  in  consequence  of,  by  reason  of, 
faith.'  Thus  for  the  present  they  will  be  quieted  with  perceiving  that, 
after  all,  what  he  had  announced  to  them  was  only  in  accordance  with  what 
Habakkuk  had  taught.  St.  Paul,  it  is  true,  has  gone  further  than  the 
prophet  in  his  statement.  They  will  have,  perhaps,  a  confused  sense  of 
this.  They  will  feel  that  something  more  lies  in  his  words  than  they  had 
as  yet  distinctly  realized.  But  they  will  be  so  far  soothed  that  they  will 
listen  to  him  further,  as  with  wonderful  wisdom  he  leads  them  on  after 
him  to  the  admission  of  the  first  point,  which  he  seeks  to  establish  in  their 
minds,  namely,  the  conviction  of  sin,  the  sense  of  their  needing  (as  well  as 
the  '  sinners  of  the  Gentiles') '  the  righteousness  of  God '  which  is  '  revealed 
in  the  Gospel.' 

CHAP.  I.    18—23. 

(18)  For  the  wrath,  of  God  from  heaven  is  being 
revealed,  upon  every  kind  of  impiety  and  iniquity  of 
men,  such  as  keep  back  the  truth  through  iniquity. 

(19)  Inasmuch  as  that  which  is  knowable  of  God  is 
manifest  among  them  ;  for  God  manifested  it  to  them. 

(20)  For  His  invisible  things,  from  the  creation  of  the 
world,  being  understood  by  his  works,  are  being  clearly 
seen,  to  wit.  His  Eternal  Power  and  Deity,  so  that  they 
are  without  excuse.  (21)  Inasmuch  a.s,  knov/ing  God, 
they  glorified  Him  not  as  God,  nor  gave  thanks,  but 
became  silly  in  their  reasonings,  and  their  heart,  want- 
ing sense,  became  darkened.  (22)  Professing  to  be 
wise,  they  became  fools  ;  (23)  and  changed  the  glory 
of  the  incorruptible  God  into  the  likeness  of  an  image 
of  corruptible  man,  and  flying,  and  four-footed,  and 
creeping,  things. 


48  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

NOTES.  # 

27.  V.  18.  the  wrath  of  God  is  being  revealed.  The  Apostle  enters 
now  on  his  delicate  task.  The  pious  Jew  at  Rome,  or  Jewish  proselyte, 
like  Nicodemus  of  old,  had  no  idea  that  he  too,  like  any  poor  '  sinner  of 
the  Gentiles,'  was  by  his  natural  birth  under  the  curse,  and  needed  God's 
forgiveness,  God's  righteousness.  He  must  be  brought  to  feel  and  acknowl- 
edge this,  in  the  first  place,  or  there  will  be  no  room  for  the  Gospel  of 
God's  Love  to  enter  in  and  possess  his  whole  heart  and  being.  How  shall 
St.  Paul  draw  him  gently  on  to  see  and  feel  and  confess  this?  He  begins 
by  announcing  that  God's  universal  dealings  with  mankind,  and  the  secret 
voice  of  conscience,  are  ever  testifying  that  there  is  a  '  wrath  of  God,'  as 
well  as  a  '  righteousness  of  God,' — a  wrath  of  God  for  all  wilful  sin^  whether 
of  Jew  or  Gentile.  Such  wrath  is  being  daily  and  hourly  revealed  in  one 
way  or  other,  in  the  outward  occurrences  of  life,  in  the  inward  utterances 
of  man's  spirit.  There  need  be  no  doubt  about  it ;  this  is  being  made  plain 
to  all,  this  is  being  revealed  by  tokens  innumerable,  that  there  is  a  Divine 
displeasure  for  all  acts  whatever,  by  w^homsoever  committed,  of  known  wil- 
ful sin,  for  every  kind  of  impiety  and  iniquity  of  inen^  who  Iceep  back  the 
truth  through  iniquity^  for  all  sin,  v/hich  they  commit  with  their  eyes  open 
to  the  evil  of  it. 

Then,  having  thus  made  a  general  statement,  which  really  involves  the 
Jew  as  well  as  the  Gentile,  St.  Paul  does  not  apply  it  immediately  to  the 
former;  but  he  takes  his  Jewish  reader  by  guile,  turns  off  his  attention,  as 
it  were,  for  a  while  from  what  he  is  doing,  and  adroitly  first  carries  him 
away  with  him  to  condemn  the  heathen  sinning  against  light,  which  the 
Jew  will  very  readily  join  him  in  doing.  The  Apostle's  words  glow,  his 
heart  swells,  as  he  goes  on.  It  seems  as  if  he  could  not  find  language  dis- 
tinct and  strong  enough  to  bring  the  heathen  under  condemnation  a^  sin- 
ners. Yet  still  it  will  be  seen  that  he  keeps  the  same  point  steadily  before 
him  throughout,  before  his  own  eyes  and  those  of  his  readers,  this,  namely, 
that  God's  wrath  is  being  revealed  upon  those  who  know  what  is  right,  yet, 
against  their  better  light  and  knowledge,  willingly  and  wilfully  do  what  is 
wrong.  Thus  he  speaks  of  those  who  'keep  back  the  truth  through 
iniquity,' — who  '  knov.'ing  God,'  in  some  measure,  yet  '  do  not  glorify  Him 
as  God,  nor  are  thankful,' — who  deliberately  '  change  the  truth  of  God,'  of 
which  their  consciences  tell  them  more  or  less  clearly,  '  into  falsehood,' — 
who  '  do  not  distinguish  to  retain  God  in  knowledge,' — who,  in  short, 
'know  the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  that  those,  who  do  such  things,  are 
worthy  of  death,  yet  both  do  them  themselves,  and  encourage  others  to  do 
them.'  All  these  expressions  are  manifestly  intended  to  include  Jews  as 
well  as  Gentiles,  and,  indeed,  are  framed  with  express  reference  to  the  for- 


CHAP.  I.  18—23.  49 

mer,  though  the  Apostle  does  not  yet  unmask,  as  it  were,  his  design,  and 
his  words  seem  to  be  bearing  only  upon  the  heathen  world. 

Thus  far,  doubtless,  while  condemning  such  sinners  against  their  better 
light  and  knowledge  among  the  heathen,  he  will  have  carried  his  Jewish 
reader  along  with  him,  borne  away,  as  it  were,  unresisting,  by  the  power 
of  the  truth,  in  the  strong  current  of  his  vehement  words.  Then  suddenly, 
with  admirable  abruptness,  he  stops  short,  brings  up  the  Jew  in  a  moment, 
turns  round  upon  him,  and  asks,  '  Well !  and  you,  who  are  able  to  join  so 
readily  in  passing  judgment  upon  these,  you,  who  know  that  such  acts  in  a 
heathen  are  wrong, — I  ask  you,  are  they  not  wrong  in  a  Jew  also  ?  Is  it 
conceivable  that  God's  wrath  is  being  revealed  for  them  only,  and  not  much 
more  for  Jews,  who,  having  more  light  than  others,  yet  sin  as  they  do  ? 
Can  you  imagine  that  there  is  any  thing  merely  in  a  man's  being  a  Jew, 
circumcised,  a  child  of  Abraham,  that  will  screen  him  from  the  righteous 
judgment  of  God,  if  he  does  such  things? '  Of  course,  if  he  can  bring  them 
to  see  and  admit  that  in  any  one  single  case,  even  of  a  wicked  and  profli- 
gate Jew,  his  supposed  immunity  from  God's  wrath  cannot  possibly  be 
maintained,  he  will  have  introduced,  as  it  were,  the  thin  end  of  the  wedge, 
and  presently  may  push  on  his  advantage  to  overthrow  the  whole  structure 
of  Judaism. 

28.  V.  18.  from  lieaven.  The  Greek  leaves  it  doubtful  whether  it 
should  be  rendered  '  revealed  from  heaven,'  or,  '  the  wrath  of  God  from 
heaven.'  The  latter  seems  preferable :  but  this  is  immaterial  to  the  gen- 
eral sense  of  the  whole  passage. 

29.  V.  18.  is  being  revealed,  not  is  revealed.  It  is  being  daily,  hourly, 
constantly  revealed,  by  the  dealings  of  God  with  men,  and  especially  by  the 
secret  witnessings  of  our  own  hearts.  All  men  everywhere  know  in  them- 
selves that  there  is  a  Divine  displeasure  threatening  those,  who  do  what 
they  knoio  to  he  wrong,  who  '  keep  back,'  hold  down,  restrain,  suppress, 
'  the  truth  through  or  in  iniquity.' 

80.  V.  18.  all  or  every  hind  of  impiety  or  iniquity.  This  expression 
is  meant  by  St.  Paul  (though  his  Jewish  reader  may  not  immediately  per- 
ceive it)  to  include  such  acts  both  of  Jew  and  Gentile.  And,  accordingly 
in  ii.  9  he  resumes,  as  it  were,  the  statement  in  this  verse,  and  expands 
these  very  words  by  saying  (instead  of  '  wrath  upon  every  kind  of  impiety 
or  iniquity')  'indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,  upon  every 
soul  of  man  that  worketh  out  evil,  of  the  Jew  first,  and  also  of  the  (Greek) 
Gentile.' 

31.  V.  18.  impiety  or  ungodliness,  sin  more  directly  against  God; 
iniquity  or  unrighteousness,  sin  in  our  relations  with  men. 

32.  V.  18.  keep  or  hold  back,  not  merely  hold,  as  in  the  English  ver- 

3 


50  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

sion.  This  is  the  point  on  which  he  is  insisting  throughout  the  whole  chap- 
ter, that  men's  consciences,  as  well  as  God's  universal  dealings  with  men, 
are  revealing  to  them  plainly  enough  the  fact,  that  there  is  wrath,  the 
wrath  of  God  from  His  Holy  Place,  pronounced  upon  all  wilful  sin.  But 
let  it  be  observed  that,  in  all  which  follows,  St.  Paul  is  not  speaking  of  the 
certainty,  that  such  wrath  will  be  carried  out  into  execution  upon  men — 
the  heathen  or  others.  All,  that  he  is  here  aiming  at,  is  to  awaken  in  his 
readers  the  solemn  conviction,  that  all  acts  of  known  and  allowed  sin  must 
of  themselves  incur  the  displeasure  of  a  Holy  God,  by  whomsoever  commit- 
ted, and  to  arouse  them  to  consider  that  all  men,  who  have  so  sinned  con- 
sciously, must  necessarily  have  within  them,  in  proportion  to  the  strength 
of  such  consciousness,  a  secret  misgiving  and  dread  of  God's  wrath,  the 
sense  of  sin  which  makes  the  sting  of  death,  unless  they  hear  of  God's  gra- 
cious, forgiving  Love  in  the  Gospel.  Some,  like  young  children,  may 
have,  indeed,  very  little  of  such  consciousness — babes,  for  instance,  none  at 
all ;  the  heathen  may  have  more  or  less  of  it,  according  to  circumstances. 
The  Jew,  devout  and  humble-minded,  not  possessed  with  the  fond  conceit 
of  his  own  self-righteousness,  would  have  a  deep  sense  of  the  evil  of  sin, 
and  be  ready  at  times  to  pray  with  David,  '  0  Lord,  rebuke  me  not  in  Thy 
wrath,  neither  chasten  me  in  Thy  hot  displeasure.'  The  Christian,  who 
has  had  '  shed  abroad  in  his  heart  the  Love  of  God  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
which  is  given  to  us,'  will  feel  more  than  any  other  the  '  exceeding  sinful- 
ness of  sin,'  not  the  sin  of  infirmity  and  ignorance,  but  sin  allowed  and  in- 
dulged, against  the  voice  of  conscience  and  the  known  will  of  his  Lord. 
He  will  know  that  such  sin  is  hateful  and  horrible, — that  there  must  be 
'wrath'  upon  it  from  the  Holy  and  Blessed  One.  Thanks  be  unto  God ! 
one  Love  embraces  all.  Already,  side  by  side  with  this  revelation  of  God's 
wrath  for  wilful  sin  in  the  heart  of  man,  there  is  a  revelation  of  His  Mercy 
— a  secret  sense  that  there  is  forgiveness  with  our  Father  in  Heaven,  in 
some  way  or  other,  possible  or  actual.  The  Jews,  before  the  coming  of 
Christ,  had  their  system  of  sacrifices  given  them,  to  remind  and  assure 
them  of  this.  The  heathen  had  their  various  modes  of  quietmg  their  hearts, 
with  what  served  to  them  as  a  pledge  of  Divine  Forgiveness.  But  all  men, 
everywhere,  have  had  all  along,  and  still  have,  a  belief  in  such  Divine  For- 
giveness, as  well  as  in  such  Divine  "Wrath  upon  wilful  sin ;  they  have  a 
feeling  that  it  must  exist,  it  must  somehow  be  provided  for  them.  Nay, 
coupled  with  the  very  sense  of  sin,  there  is  a  dim  sense  of  a  righteousness 
which  they  already  possess.  In  the  very  midst  of  their  perverseness,  they 
are  conscious  still  that  they  are  not  dealt  with  as  accursed  creatures^ — that, 
however  He  may  see  good  to  chasten  and  correct  them,  a  Faithful  Creator, 
a  Merciful  Father,  is  still  pouring  out  His  benefits  upon  them,  '  making  His 


CHAP.  I.  18—23.  51 

sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  sending  His  rain  on  the  just  and 
on  the  unjust.'  In  the  Gospel  is  explained  the  secret  of  this.  For  therein 
is  revealed  the  righteousness  which  God  gives  us, — which  He  gives  to  all, 
the  evil  and  the  good,  the  just  and  the  unjust  alike,  that  we  may  be  regard- 
ed as  children  before  Him — undutiful  and  disobedient  children,  it  may  be, 
— self-willed  and  prodigal, — but  children  still,  and  to  be  dealt  with  as  chil- 
dren, even  when  He  visits  us  with  His  displeasure — children  who  have  been 
called  to  inherit  a  blessing,  and  are  not  lying  under  a  curse. 

33.  V.  19.  that  lohich  is  knoivable,  that  which  may  be  attained  by  hu- 
man faculties,  enlightened  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  without  special  revelation. 

34.  V.  19.  manifested,  not  hath  manifested,  as  if  some  full  complete 
work  of  manifestation  had  been  wrought  among  them.  The  tense  used  in 
the  Greek  is  the  aorist,  and  it  implies  '  God  has  manifested  it  from  time  to 
time,  still  manifests,  and  will  manifest.'  In  fact,  the  Greek  aorist  can  often 
be  expressed  best  by  one  of  the  forms  of  the  English  present,  '  God  mani- 
fests it,'  which  English  expression  does  not  point  to  any  one  particular 
time,  past,  present,  or  to  come,  or  to  any  continually  progressing  manifes- 
tation, but  implies  the  frequently  recurring  acts  in  all  time  by  which  God 
manifests  His  Glory  to  men. 

35.  V.  20.  His  invisible  things,  d'c.  As  St.  Paul  has  said  elsewhere, 
though  we  cannot  see  God  with  our  bodily  eyes,  yet  has  He  so  made  us 
that  we  may  '  feel  after  Him  and  find  Him,'  and  see  His  Glory  and  Beauty 
with  our  spiritual  eyes ;  '  for  He  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us.' 

36.  V.  20.  they  are  tvithout  excuse.  The  recognition  of  the  Eternal 
Power  and  Deity  of  our  glorious  Maker  involves,  as  a  natural  and  necessary 
consequence,  the  duty  of  fearing,  loving,  trusting,  and  obeying  Hira,  in 
proportion  to  the  Light  He  gives  us. 

But  who  are  'without  excuse'?  St.  Paul  cannot  mean  here  to  say  that 
every  individual  heathen  was  without  excuse,  any  more  than  afterwards  he 
means  to  say  that  every  individual  heathen  was  '  given  over  to  a  reprobate 
mind,'  so  as  to  do  all  manner  of  abominable  wickedness.  Of  course,  there 
wfere  infants  and  young  children,  at  all  events,  of  whom  this  could  not  be 
said.  There  were  others  also,  the  wise  and  good  of  ancient  Greece  and 
Eome,  and,  doubtless,  of  every  nation  under  heaven,  civilised  or  barbarian, 
who  did,  as  St.  Paul  says  himself  presently  (ii.  10),  'work  that  which  was 
good,'  according  to  the  light  and  strength  vouchsafed  to  them.  There  were 
those,  in  fact,  who  did  discern  something  of  the  Divine  Glory  from  the 
works  of  God,  and  were  thankful.  '  This  I  esteem  real  piety,'  wrote  the 
heathen  Galen,  'not  that  I  should  sacrifice  thousands  and  thousands  of 
hecatombs  of  His  bulls,  and  offer  up  cassia  and  ten  thousand  other  odours 
as  incense ;  but,  first,  that  I  should  myself  understand  Him,  and  then  ex- 


52  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

plain  to  others  what  He  is,  as  to  Wisdom,  as  to  Power,  and  as  to  Benignity. 
To  will  to  adorn  this  whole  world,  and  to  leave  nothing  destitute  of  His 
Goodness,  I  lay  down  as  a  proof  of  perfect  Benignity,  and  therefore  He  is 
to  be  praised  by  us  as  Good.  But  to  discover  how  this  may  be  best 
adorned,  is  the  height  of  Wisdom.  And  to  effect  whatever  He  hath 
chosen,  is  evidence  of  irresistible  Power.'  De  Natura,  ii,  60.  Such  words 
alone  are  enough  to  show  that  St.  Paul  must  be  understood  as  speaking  of 
heathens  generally,  not  individually,  even  as  David  in  the  Psalm,  which  is 
quoted  in  iii.  10 — 18,  is  speaking  of  the  general  depravity  of  the  people  in 
his  time,  not  of  each  individual  among  them,  child  or  adult,  when  he  says, 
'  There  is  not  one  righteous,  no,  not  one  ....  The  poison  of  asps  is  under 
their  lips :  their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood.' 

The  Apostle's  saying  they  are  '  without  excuse,'  however,  is  not  the 
6ame  as  saying  that  the  '  wrath  of  God '  will  come  down  upon  them  to  the 
uttermost  (as  some  seem  to  think).  We,  Christians,  are  '  without  excuse  "* 
for  sins  which  we  daily  commit ;  we  too  are  '  under  sentence  to  God,'  for 
such  things;  but  we  trust  to  be  forgiven,  we  trust  that  we  are  forgiven, 
and  are  still  able  to  appear  as  '  righteous '  creatures  before  Him,  notwith- 
standing all  our  faults,  because  He  looks  upon  us  in  His  Son,  in  whom  He 
has  loved  the  world.  And  we  believe  that  our  King  and  Lord,  the  right- 
eous Judge,  will  deal  mercifully  as  well  as  justly  with  us  in  that  day.  So 
too,  we  may  be  sure,  will  He  deal  with  the  heathen.  Probably  their  worst 
sins  of  murder  and  uncleanness  are  not  more  essentially  abominable  in 
God's  sight  than  the  slanderous  talk,  and  malicious  acts,  and  dishonest 
practices,  and  self-indulgent,  selfish  lives,  of  many  Christians,  whom  He 
alone  can  judge,  who  knows  the  secrets  of  all  hearts,  and  the  share  of  His 
goods  committed  unto  each — and  not  we.  Let  it  be  then  distinctly  noted 
that  what  the  Apostle  is  here  driving  at  is  not  to  announce  that  all  the 
heathen  world  without  exception  are  without  excuse,  and  shall  be  doomed 
to  eternal  perdition.  But  he  says  that  all  such  among  the  heathen,  as 
shut  their  eyes  wilfully  or  heedlessly  to  the  Light,  which  they  have  vouch- 
safed to  them,  and,  having  powers  and  faculties  for  discerning  some 
measure  of  the  truth,  neglect  or  refuse  to  use  it,  but  '  keep  back  the  truth 
through  iniquity,' — {all  heathens  do  not  this,  as  heathen  children,  and 
doubtless  a  multitude  of  simple  souls  beside  them,) — are  '  without  excuse,' 
and  fall  directly  under  the  condemnation,  that  '  Light  is  come  into  the 
world,  but  they  loved  darkness  rather  than  the  light,  because  they  knew 
in  themselves  that  their  deeds  were  evil.'  He  goes  on  then  to  say  how 
continuance  in  such  evil  tends  more  and  more  to  darken  the  heart,  and 
ultimately  speaks  of  the  heathen  world  generally  as  doing  what  they  knew 
to  be  wrong,  and  encouraging  even  others  to  do  the  same.    But  the  whole 


CHAP.  I.  24—21^  53 

spirit  of  the  passage  is  not  to  announce  that  these  heathen  will  be  punished 
for  their  sin,  (however  this  may  be,)  but  to  make  it  plain  that  such  con- 
duct is  sin,  and  subject  to  GocVs  wrath.,  and  that,  consequently,  they  need 
the  manifestation  of  a  righteousness,  which  shall  be  God's,  God's  Gift  to 
them  as  sinners,  and  not  their  own,  if  they  are  to  have  any  part  in  His 
Kingdom  of  Light  and  Love.  As  for  the  better  part  among  the  heathen, 
they  would,  like  devout,  humble-minded  Jews,  or  Christians,  be  ready 
enough  to  confess  their  own  shortcomings  of  the  standard  of  goodness, 
which  they  had  set  up  for  themselves.  The  general  statement  was  true  for 
them,  as  for  others,  that  they  too  were  '  concluded  under  sin,'  and  had 
need  of  God's  mercy  and  God's  righteousness ;  though  the  strong  language 
of  St.  Paul  in  this  chapter  could  not,  and  was  not  meant  to,  apply  to  them, 
any  more  than  to  young  children  or  lunatics,  who  had  yet  within  them  by 
nature  the  seeds  of  spiritual  death,  and  were  equally  (as  he  will  show  here- 
after) '  concluded  under  sin.' 

3Y.  V.  21.  their  heart.,  because  wanting  sense  to  understand  what  was 
every  day  before  their  very  eyes,  ivas  darkened.  '  He  that  hath  not,  from 
him  shall  be  taken  even  that  which  he  seemeth  to  have.' 

88.  V.  23.  professing  to  be  wise.  St.  Paul  appears  to  have  had  in 
view  especially  the  sophists  of  Greece,  to  whom,  in  his  own  age,  four  or 
five  centuries  before,  the  heathen  philosopher,  Socrates,  that  'hunter  of 
the  truth,'  so  resolutely  opposed  himself,  and  died,  in  fact,  at  their  hands, 
a  martyr  in  the  service  of  the  God  of  Truth. 

39.  V.  23.  they  became  fools.  These  wise  and  learned  of  the  earth, 
yet,  generally  speaking,  were  content  with  the  idolatrous  worship  of  the 
times,  and,  with  all  their  wisdom,  could  not  see  that,  if  we  are  God's  off- 
spring. He  cannot  be  likened  to  a  bird  or  beast,  or  made  in  the  image  of  a 
corruptible  man. 

CHAP.  I.  24—27. 
(24)  Wherefore  also  Gocl  gave  them  over  in  the 
lusts  of  their  hearts  unto  nncleanness,  to  dishonour 
their  own  bodies  among  themselves  ;  (25)  Such  as 
changed  the  truth  of  God  into  falsehood,  and  rev- 
erenced and  did  religious  service  to  the  creature  in- 
stead of  the  Creator,  who  is  blessed  forever.  Amen. 
(26)  Therefore  God  gave  them  over  to  dishonourable 
passions.  For  both  their  females  changed  the  natural 
use  into  that  which  is  beyond  nature  ;  (27)  and  like- 


54  episAe  to  the  romans. 

wise  the  males  also,  leaving  the  natural  use  of  the 
woman,  were  burnt  up  in  their  desire  towards  one  ano- 
ther, males  in  males  working  out  uncleanness,  and  the 
reward  which  was  fitting  of  their  error  receiving  back 
in  themselves. 

NOTES. 

40.  V.  24.  God  gave  them  over.  In  Eph.  iv.  19,  St.  Paul  speaks  of 
the  heathen  as  '  having  the  understanding  darkened,  being  alienated  from 
the  life  of  God  through  the  ignorance  that  is  in  them,  because  of  the  blind- 
ness of  their  hearts,  who,  being  past  feeling,  have  (/iven  themselves  over 
unto  lasciviousness,  to  work  all  uncleanness  with  greediness.'  Of  course, 
as  before,  this  is  not  true  of  all  heathens.  The  Apostle  is  speaking  of  the 
general  aspect  of  the  heathen  world,  especially  in  his  own  time,  and  within 
his  own  knowledge. 

But  here  we  have  the  same  double  form  of  expression  as  in  the  Book 
of  Exodus,  where  God  is  sometimes  said  to  have  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart, 
at  another  time  Pharaoh  is  said  to  have  hardened  his  own  heart.  Such 
words  as  these  point  to  the  laws  of  the  moral  world,  as  sure  and  stable  as 
those  of  the  physical,  which  make  the  darkening  of  the  mind,  and  the 
hardening  of  the  heart,  the  natural  and  necessary  consequence  of  con- 
tinuance in  knoion  evil.  It  must  be  so.  The  laws  of  the  physical  world, 
we  believe,  are  fixed  by  the  Creator,  who  gave  to  the  different  elements 
their  different  powers.  A  man  cannot  put  his  finger  in  the  fire  without 
being  burnt,  or  drink  spirits  to  excess  without  injury,  or  swallow  prussic 
acid  without  his  life  being  sacrificed.  We  may  say,  in  all  such  cases,  that 
the  man  did  so  and  so — he  burnt  his  finger,  he  impaired  his  powers  of  di- 
gestion, he  killed  himself  by  taking  poison.  Yet,  in  reality,  it  was  God's 
minister,  acting  by  God's  law,  that  did  it ;  it  was  the  fire  that  burnt,  the 
alcohol  that  corroded,  the  poison  that  killed.  It  is,  therefore,  God  Him- 
self, to  whom  these  results  must  be  ultimately  attributed ;  and  the  man's 
rashness,  intemperance,  desperation,  have  brought  upon  him  these  con- 
sequences from  the  Hand  of  the  Almighty,  according  to  the  laws  which  He 
has  fixed  for  the  physical  world.  Other  laws,  it  is  true,  which  God  has 
also  fixed,  may  be  brought  into  play  by  the  action  of  the  man  himself  or 
of  others,  to  prevent  the  former  having  their  full  effect,  in  producing  such 
consequences.  He  may  so  quickly  di-aw  back  his  hand  as  not  to  be  burnt ; 
he  may  be  drawn  from  his  sottish  habits  before  the  evil  is  irremediable ; 
he  may  have  an  antidote  administered  in  time.  But  the  natural  con- 
sequence of  his  act  is  fixed  beforehand  by  the  "Will  and  Wisdom  of  God. 


CHAP.  I.  24^27.  55 

The  man  can  foretel  it  to  himself,  that,  following  such  and  such  a  course, 
he  will  brmg  on  himself,  that  is,  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  Universe  will 
bring  on  him,  such  and  such  consequences. 

Just  such  an  order  there  is  also  in  the  moral  world,  with  only  this  dif- 
ference, that  the  consequence  here  is  not  merely  necessary  by  the  fiat  of 
the  Almighty,  but  necessary,  as  it  seems  to  us,  in  the  very  nature  of  things 
— in  the  very  nature  of  His  own  Eternal  Being.  It  is  the  Law  of  the  Moral 
World,  that  known,  indulged  sin  of  any  kind  7iiust  be  followed  with  this 
particular  form  of  evil,  the  darkening  of  the  mind,  the  hardening  of  the 
heart.  How  far  the  sins  of  any  man,  of  any  heathen  or  Christian — the 
sins  of  uncleanness,  deceit,  malignity,  covetousness,  pride,  vanity,  envy, 
selfishness — are  sins  of  ignorance,  or  sins  committed  against  light  by  those 
who  know  better,  u<e  cannot  say.  He  only  knows  who  knows  the  heart. 
The  '  sins  of  ignorance '  God  '  winks  at.'  But  where  a  man,  heathen,  Jew, 
or  Christian,  '  keeps  back  the  truth  through  iniquity,'  '  changes  God's  truth 
into  falsehood,'  knows  how  to  do  right,  and  yet  chooses  to  do  wrong,  say- 
ing, '  Evil,  be  thou  my  Good,' — when  any  man  lives  thus,  whether  in 
Christian  or  heathen  lands, — there  will  the  work  of  death  be  assuredly 
going  on  in  his  soul,  and  we  may  say  of  him,  either  that  he  has  delivered 
himself  over  unto  evil,  or  God  has  delivered  him.  Hei-e,  however,  as  be- 
fore, other  laws  of  the  moral  world  may  be  brought  into  play,  through  the 
mercy  of  God,  by  which  such  a  man  may  be  rescued  from  such  evil,  before 
the  work  of  death  is  wrought  in  him,  effectually,  for  ever. 

41.  v.  25.  siich  as  changed  the  truth,  d:c.  Let  this  be  noted  distinctly 
once  more.  Throughout  this  whole  passage  St.  Paul  is  straining  at  this 
point  only, — not  to  bring  the  whole  of  heathendom  under  condemnation, 
to 'conclude  them  all  under  sin,' (he  does  that  afterwards,) — but  for  the 
present  his  argument  only  requires  that  he  should  lead  on  the  Jew  to  con- 
fess, that,  whatever  might  be  the  case  with  those  who  sinned  ignorantly, 
yet,  for  those  who  did  not  sin  ignorantly,  who  changed  the  truth  which 
they  knew,  or  should  have  known,  into  a  lie,  there  is  wrath  '  revealed ' 
from  a  Holy  and  Righteous  God.  This,  and  this  alone,  is  what  he  is  aim- 
ing at  in  this  chapter.  And  then  he  will  turn  presently  round  upon  the 
Jew  and  ask  him,  if  he  really  can  suppose  that  there  is  no  condemnation 
for  those,  who  know  more  than  all  the  heathen,  yet  sin  in  direct  opposition 
to  their  knowledge,  in  direct  defiance  of  the  judgment,  which  they  admit 
readily,  in  the  case  of  others,  such  sin  would  deserve.  He  means  to  set 
before  them  this  solemn  truth,  that  the  very  knowledge  of  God's  Law, 
which  they  possessed,  so  far  from  being  something  to  boast  of,  a  kind  of 
charm,  as  it  were,  to  secure  them  from  His  Wrath  and  admit  them  to  His 
Kingdom,  would  be  the  measure  of  their  condemnation,  if  they  were  not 


56  EPISTLE   TO    THE   KOMANS. 

found  to  walk  according  to  the  truth  which  they  knew.  He  will  then  go 
on  to  show  that,  if  this  '  charm '  of  their  Jewish  immunity  is  broken  in  the 
case  of  some,  it  is  broken  for  all :  they  have  nothing  to  trust  in,  any  more 
than  the  rest  of  the  human  kind,  but  the  mercies  of  God.  And  he  will 
further  warn  them,  as  he  draws  towards  the  close  of  his  argument,  that  if 
they  do  not  feel  this  to  be  true — if  the  Jewish  nation,  as  a  whole,  still  con- 
tinues wrapt  up  in  a  senseless  conceit  of  their  own  dignity  and  security, 
self-satisfied  and  confident  at  having  been  '  raised  up,'  as  if  they  must 
'  stand '  for  ever,  and  could  not  '  fall,' — it  may  be  that  by  long  continuance 
in  known  evil,  their  eyes  have  become  dark,  and  their  hearts  hard,  even  as 
those  of  these  ignorant  and  besotted  heathen. 

42.  v.  26.  dishonourable  passions.  In  the  present  condition  of  a 
heathen  or  any  other  people,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say  how  much  of  their  pres- 
ent moral  debasement  is  the  result  of  a  judicial  debasement  of  the  kind 
here  spoken  of,  and  is  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  penal  consequence 
of  their  '  keeping  back  the  truth  through  iniquity.' 

Let  us  take,  for  instance,  the  case  of  the  Zulus.  We  know  that  they 
exhibit  certain  virtues,  and  are  capable  of  brave  and  kind  and  just  and 
generous  actions.  But  we  know  also  that  they  practise  habitually,  without 
any  restraint,  a  certain  gross  form  of  vice,  that  they  kill  for  trivial  causes, 
sometimes,  apparently,  for  none  at  all.  Is  the  moral  guiltiness  of  these 
offences  to  be  measured  by  the  high  standard  of  pure  Christianity? 
Again  and  again,  in  Zululand,  some  wretch  is  knocked  on  the  head  as  an 
umtakati,  or  evil-doer,  supposed  by  certain  occult  practices,  to  plot  against 
the  lives  of  the  king  and  the  royal  family  or  others,  just  as  wizards  and 
witches  were  believed  to  do  not  long  ago — perhaps  are  still  believed  to  do 
— in  some  Christian  lands.  Are  we  able  to  measure  the  guilt,  in  the  sight 
of  God,  of  such  matters,  when  we  remember  how  short  a  time  has  passed, 
since  even  in  England,  with  all  the  light  of  Christianity,  and  all  the  help  of 
learning,  and  all  the  benefits  of  English  civilisation,  such  a  truly  good  and 
pious  man  as  Judge  Hale  could  condemn  a  supposed  witch  to  be  burnt  to 
death,  and  believe  that,  in  so  doing,  he  was  acting  according  to  the  will  of 
God,  and  not  merely  according  to  the  law  ?  Such  things  as  these  we  must 
leave  to  the  righteous  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  who  will  assuredly  do  what 
is  right.  Where  a  Zulu  chief  butchers  out  of  mere  spite  or  covetousness, 
desiring  to  wreak  his  vengeance  or  increase  his  herds,  and  fighting  thus 
with  his  own  conscience,  (if  he  has  not  already  silenced  and  deadened  it,) 
there,  doubtless,  will  the  work  of  death  go  on  within,  the  mind  will  become 
still  more  darkened,  the  heart  still  further  hardened  in  evil.  And  so  with 
other  corrupt  practices.  So  far  as  these  are  now  carried  on,  or  were  at 
first  begun,  in  ignorance  of  a  higher  law,  after  the  example  of  parents,  and 
m  obedience  to  those  in  authority,  who  stood  in  the  place  of  God,  they  are 


CHAP.  I.  24—27.  57 

the  sins  of  ignorance,  which  God  '  winks  at,'  till  His  word  is  brought  home 
to  them — not  merely  to  their  outward  ears  by  the  stammering  lips  of  a 
missionary,  but  inwardly  to  their  hearts  by  His  Spirit,  teaching  them  to 
know  and  feel  that  such  acts  are  evil  in  His  sight,  and  bidding  them  forsake 
them,  and  live  as  becomes  His  childi-en.  But,  whenever  men,  knowing 
God  and  the  righteous  requirements  of  His  Law  in  some  measure,  yet 
'  glorify  him  not  as  God,'  and  refuse  to  listen  to  His  Voice,  which  speaks 
within  them — whenever  men  strive  with  their  Heavenly  Friend  and 
Teacher,  and  '  do  not  obey  the  truth,  but  yield  themselves  up  to  iniquity ' 
— there  is  '  anger  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of 
man  that  worketh  out  evil,  be  he  Jew  or  Greek,  Christian  or  Heathen.' 

St.  Paul,  then,  in  the  language  of  this  chapter  is  not  speaking  of  all 
heathen  indisci-iminately,  and  certainly  does  not  mean  to  describe  all  such 
men  as  Socrates  and  Cicero,  with  a  multitude  of  other  great  and  noble 
men  among  the  heathen — at  all  events  not  their  young  children — as  being 
'  filled  with  all  unrighteousness,  fornication,  wickedness,  &c.'  He  is  refer- 
ring to  individual  cases  in  all  times, — (as,  in  fact,  is  indicated  by  the  use  of 
the  Greek  aorist), — and  especially  to  the  numerous  instances  of  flagrant 
vice,  which  in  that  corrupt  age  would  be  too  familiarly  known  to  those 
living  at  Rome,  or  in  any  of  the  great  cities  of  the  Empire.  And  so  he 
carries  his  reader  easily  along  with  him,  while  he  reiterates  again  and  again 
— four  times,  in  fact,  in  different  forms  of  expression,  (as  if  to  drive  the 
thought  well  into  their  minds,) — the  natural  and. necessary  consequence  of 
continuance  in  known  and  allowed  evil — that  consequence  being  a  further 
sinking  into  evil,  a  heardening  of  the  heart,  a  deadening  of  the  conscience, 
a  darkening  of  the  mind,  an  increasing  inability  to  discern  right  from 
wrong,  the  good  from  the  evil.  His  words,  however,  seem  to  imply  a  very 
general  and  widespread  depravity  of  this  kind.  In  chapter  ii.  he  allows, 
indeed,  that  there  are  men,  Greeks  as  well  as  Jews,  who,  '  by  patient  con- 
tinuance in  well-doing,  do  seek  for  glory,  and  honour,  and  immortality ' — 
who  do  '  work  good ' — who  '  having  not  the  law,  do  by  nature  the  things 
contained  in  the  law,  and  are  a  law  unto  themselves.'  How  many  there 
were,  God  only  could  know.  But,  to  the  Apostle's  mind,  the  general  as- 
pect of  the  heathen  world  would  seem  to  be  that  exhibited  by  the  language 
of  this  first  chapter.  And,  indeed,  the  Satires  of  Juvenal,  and  the 
Histories  of  Tacitus,  give  a  very  similar  account  of  the  profligacy  of  the 
times,  while  yet  everywhere  giving  tokens  of  the  shining  of  some  bright 
lights  to  illumine  the  gloom,  in  the  lives  of  noble  individuals  whose  acts 
are  recorded  for  the  admiration  of  all  ages,  and,  doubtless,  in  the  lives  of 
a  multitude  of  other  humbler  souls,  whose  names  are  registered  in 
heaven. 

3* 


58  EPISTLE    TO   THE    ROMANS. 

How  mucli  of  guilt,  of  moral  guilt,  there  was  in  all  this,  God  only  can 
know.  But  the  Apostle  teaches,  what  the  Bible  everywhere  teaches,  and 
our  own  hearts  teach  also,  that  the  essence  of  moral  guilt  consists  in  the 
commission  of  acts  of  co)iscious  wilful  sin,  whether  sin  of  negligence  or 
sin  of  presumption.  The  sins  of  mere  infirmity,  the  sins  of  mere  ignorance, 
as  well  as  the  sinful  stain  which  infects  our  nature,  St.  Paul  teaches,  and 
the  Bible  everywhere  teaches,  are  forgiven  freely  by  our  Heavenly  Father, 
for  His  own  Name's  sake,  declared  to  us  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  But 
St.  Paul  teaches,  and  the  Bible  teaches,  and  our  own  consciences  teach  us, 
that  the  sins  which  do  weigh  down  the  soul,  which  do  naturally  and  neces- 
sarily tend  to  defile,  darken,  deaden,  and  destroy  it,  are  the  sins  committed 
in  disregard  of  that  measure  of  light  which  has  been  vouchsafed,  and  which 
still  remains,  and,  however  dimmed,  is  perhaps  never  wholly  extinguished 
in  any  man  on  this  side  the  grave.  What  may  be  the  consequences,  in 
another  world,  of  having  abused  the  gift  of  God  in  this,  and  having  become 
daily  worse  and  more  corrupt  by  continuance  in  known  evil,  instead  of  be- 
coming better,  as  we  shall  become,  by  abiding  in  that  which  our  consciences 
tell  us  is  right  and  good,  St.  Paul  does  not  tell  us.  He  only  implies  that 
such  men  among  the  heathen  in  their  measure,  like  the  Jews  themselves, 
or  like  Christians  who  may  do  likewise,  '  after  their  hardness  and  impeni- 
tence of  heart  are  treasuring  up  to  themselves  wrath  against  the  day  of 
wrath,  and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  who  will  render 
to  evei'y  man  according  to  his  deeds ' — an  awful,  indeed,  but  yet  a  grand 
and  blessed  and  comforting  truth,  to  which  our  own  hearts  fully  respond, 
for  which  the  ^nations  may  rejoice  and  be  glad;  for  He  cometh — He 
Cometh  to  judge  righteously  the  earth.'  Not  for  the  sins  of  Adam,  or  the 
sins  of  infirmity  and  ignorance,  which  Adam's  sin  may  have  been  the  cause 
of  in  any  man,  but  for  his  own  wilful,  known,  conscious  tampering  with 
the  ti'uth,  will  he  be  judged  in  that  day, — because,  whether  Jew  or  Greek, 
Christian  or  Heathen,  the  light  came  to  him  (in  what  measure  God  only 
can  know) ;  but  he  '  loved  the  darkness  rather  than  the  Light,  because  his 
deeds  were  evil.' 

43.  w.  24,  26.  God  gave  them  over.  Here,  as  everywhere  through- 
out the  passage,  the  tense  used  is  the  aorist, — not  '  God  has  given  them 
over,'  as  a  settled  thing,  once  for  all,  permanently  and  hopelessly ;  but  He 
'  gave  them  over,'  in  each  case,  on  each  occasion,  when  the  evil  work  was 
done,  which  drew  on  this  consequence. 

So  God  '  gave  over  '  the  Jews  at  various  times, — not,  indeed,  all  the 
nation  at  any  time,  not  the  'seven  thousand  chosen  men,  who  had  not 
bowed  the  knee  to  Baal '  in  each  case,  but  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 
He  gave  them  over  again  and  again  to  a  reprobate  mind  for  a  season; 


CHAP.  I.  24—27.  59 

though  by  various  means  and  merciful  acts  of  His  Providence,  He  raised 
them  again,  from  time  to  time,  from  their  state  of  spiritual  degradation ; 
until  they  gave  themselves  over  at  last — the  great  body  of  them,  not  all — or 
God  gave  them  over  (for  a  time  only,  as  St.  Paul  tells  us  in  xi.  25,)  into 
that  perverse  state  of  mind,  in  which  they  rejected  and  crucified  the  Lord 
of  Glory.  We  know  that  many  of  them  must  have  wilfully  shut  their  eyes 
to  the  Light,  ascribing  to  Satan  what  was  manifestly  done  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  and  putting  to  death,  as  a  malefactor.  One,  whom  they  saw  and  knew 
to  be  pure,  and  loving,  and  innocent.  Others,  doubtless,  even  in  that  age, 
did  what  they  did,  '  ignorantly,'  as  St.  Peter  says  of  them,—'  ignorantly  in 
unbelief,'  as  St.  Paul  says  of  himself,— believing  that  they  were  doing  God 
service,  led  away  by  the  example  and  teaching  of  their  betters. 

But,  as  for  the  Jews  of  the  present  day,  v/e  cannot  presume  to  say  that 
they  too  have  been  '  given  over  to  a  reprobate  mind,'  or  that  their  eyes  are 
darkened  as  a  penal  consequence  of  their  continuing  in  unbelief.  It  may 
be  so  in  certain  individual  cases,  where  light  has  reached  the  inner  man, 
and  been  rejected.  But,  probably,  in  our  days,  amidst  the  great  body  of 
the  Jewish  people,  such  cases  are  very  rare.  It  is  far  more  likely  that  the 
acts  of  abominable  cruelty,  injustice,  and  contemptuous  bigotry,  with  which, 
in  Christian  lands  and  by  Christian  people — too  often,  alas !  by  Christian 
ministers — they  have  been  so  frequently,  and  are  even  now,  treated,  have 
gone  far  to  fix  them  in  holy  and  righteous  horror  of  a  religion,  which  taught 
that  such  outrages  were  right.  All,  surely,  that  an  humble-minded  Chris- 
tian can  allow  himself  to  say  of  the  present  state  of  the  Jews  generally,  is 
that  they  are,  not  actually  incurring  great  moral  guilt — (he  cannot  judge 
of  that,) — but  suffering  great  moral  and  spiritual  loss  from  the  acts  of  their 
forefathers. 

Just  as  if  an  English  parent  should  commit  some  great  breach  of  the 
laws,  and  be  transported  to  a  penal  settlement,  and,  settling  there  in  after 
days,  should  draw  his  family  around  him,  removing  them  thus  from  the 
means  of  grace  and  opportunities  of  spiritual  growth,  which  they  would 
have  enjoyed  in  England,  and  which  he  himself  is  unable  to  supply.  The 
probability, — we  might  say  certainty, — is  that  the  children  in  such  a  case 
would  suffer  great  loss  in  spiritual  things  through  the  fault  of  the  parent, 
though  they  can  only  incur  guilt  through  fault  of  their  own.  They  would 
serve,  in  fact,  to  illustrate  the  words  of  the  second  commandment,  that  the 
*  iniquity  of  the  fathers  is  visited  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generations.'  But  the  '  visitation'  here  spoken  of  is  not  punishment^ 
laid  upon  them  for  their  fathers'  sins.  '  The  soul,  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die.' 
Frequently,  indeed,  such  'visitation'  upon  the  children  is  turned  into  a 
positive  blessing,  both  to  the  fathers  and  to  them.    The  sense  of  the  con- 


60  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

sequences  which  he  is  entailing,  by  his  guilty  course  of  life,  upon  those 
whom  he  loves,  may  act  as  a  check  upon  the  parent  in  the  commission  of 
sin.  If  not,  it  may  deepen  his  sorrow  and  repentance,  and  inspire  them^  at 
all  events,  with  a  salutary  dread  and  abhorrence  of  that,  which  has  ruined 
him,  and  brought  so  much  evil  upon  them  all.  In  this  way,  however,  it 
can  be  easily  seen  how  a  family  may  sink  into  a  lower  state  of  spiritual  life 
than  the  parents,  without  incurring  moral  guiltiness  thereby,  if  they  have 
not  been  consciously  concerned  in  the  acts  which  led  to  it.  And  their 
children  may  sink  lower  still. 

Thus  we  can  conceive  of  the  present  state  of  the  great  body  of  the  Jew- 
ish nation,  as  being  in  most  cases  the  consequence,  mainly,  if  not  alto- 
gether, of  the  sins  of  their  forefathers,  without  being  in  the  least  degree 
able  to  judge  how  much  of  the  guilt  of  that  state  belongs  to  themselves,  or 
how  much  of  it  belongs,  rather,  to  us  Christians,  who  have  failed  to  let  our 
light  shine  to  the  glory  of  our  God  before  them.  So  too,  in  looking  at  a 
heathen  people  like  the  Zulus,  we  can  conceive  how  they  have  sunk  down 
gradually  from  that  knowledge,  which  the  fathers  of  all  the  Kafir  tribes 
once  possessed,  as  sons  (very  probably)  or  grandsons  of  Abraham,  to  the 
mere  trace  which  they  now  have  of  that  knowledge,  in  the  recognition  of 
one  Supreme  Creator, — whom  they  call  uXkulunkulu,  the  Great-Great-One, 
or  uMvelinqange,  the  first  Out-Comer,  but  whom  they  will  often  confuse 
with  the  first  created  man, — without  being  in  the  least  able  to  judge  to 
what  extent  the  living  people  of  the  tribe  are  involved  in  the  guilt  of  such 
declension.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that,  whatever  these  brother-men 
may  suffer,  however  they  may  be  degraded  and  debased,  whatever  loss  of 
moral  or  spiritual  life  they  may  experience  through  the  sins  of  the  genera- 
tions which  have  gone  before  them,  that  measure  of  light  which  every  one 
has  had  vouchsafed  to  him,  will  not  be  withdrawn  or  darkened,  except 
through  his  own  acts  of  conscious  evil.  Let  it  be  repeated  once  more, 
there  is  now  no  condemnation  but  this  for  any  member  of  the  redeemed 
race  of  man,  that  '  light  has  come  to  him,'  according  to  the  measure  of  the 
gift  of  God ;  but  he  '  loved  the  darkness  rather  than  the  light,  because  his 
deeds  were  evil.' 

44.  v.  2Y.  receiving  bach  in  themselves  from  God  the  just  consequences 
of  their  evil  doing,  in  the  darkening  of  the  mind,  &c. 

CHAP.  I.   28—32. 
(28)  And,  as  they  did  not  distinguish  to  hold  Grod 
in  their  minds  with  intelligence,  God  gave  them  over 
unto  a  reprobate  mind,  to  do  things  unseeijily;    (29) 


CHAP.  I.  28—32.  61 

filled  with  all  iniquity,  fornication,  knavery,  greed, 
viciousness ;  crammed  with  envy,  hatred,  strife,  deceit, 
spitefulness  ;  whisperers,  (30)  backbiters,  God-haters, 
insolent,  haughty,  braggarts,  inventors  of  evil  things, 
disobedient  to  parents,  (31)  senseless^  perfidious,  with- 
out natural  affection,  implacable,  unmerciful  ;  (32) 
such  as,  knowing  well  the  righteous  decision  of  God, 
that  those  doing  such  things  are  worthy  of  death,  not 
only  do  them,  but  even  consent  to  those  who  do  them. 

NOTES. 

45.  V.  28.  reprobate^  that  is,  worthless,  like  drossy  gold,  rejected  by 
the  assayer,  refuse.  The  play  of  words  in  the  original  Greek  is  lost  in  the 
English  translation.  It  may  be  partially  expressed  by  translating  (with  Dr. 
Vaughan),  '  As  they  refused  to  hold  God  intelligently,  God  gave  them  over 
to  a  refuse  mind.' 

46.  V.  29.  hatred.  The  Greek  word  means  literally  'murder,'  but 
appears  to  be  used  here  in  the  sense  of  '  hatred.' 

47.  V.  30.  inventors  of  evil  things^  that  is,  of  new  forms  of  evil,  new 
vices,  or  vicious  practices.  '  Five  of  the  terms  here  applied  to  the  heathen 
world  (and  in  substance  several  others)  are  found  in  2  Tim.  iii.  2,  3,  in  the 
predicted  corruption  of  the  Church  itself.'  Vaughan.  It  was,  of  course, 
part  of  the  Apostle's  stratagem,  as  it  were,  to  include,  among  the  grosser 
sins  of  the  heathen,  sins  of  a  more  ordinary  kind,  which  were  too  often 
committed  by  Jews  as  well. 

48.  V.  32.  knowing  well  the  righteous  decision  of  God — knowing  it,  of 
course,  without  revelation,  in  the  secrets  of  their  own  hearts.  The  Apostle 
is  not  here  speaking,  we  see,  of  infants,  young  children,  insane  persons 
&c.,  who  may  do  things  evil  without  knowing  that  they  are  evil;  nor,  by 
analogy,  is  he  speaking  of  others,  who,  though  old  in  years,  are  as  children 
in  understanding,  with  regard  to  much  that  they  do,  and  of  whom  there 
must  be  a  multitude  among  the  heathen.  His  argument  does  not  require 
him  to  speak  of  these.  He  is  here  only  speaking  of  those,  who  deliberately 
do  what  they  know  to  be  wrong,  and  justly  incur  a  corresponding  judgment. 

49.  V,  32.  not  only  do  them^  hut  even  consent  to  those  who  do  them. 
The  guilt  incurred  by  those,  who,  knowing  a  thing  to  be  wrong,  not  only 
do  it,  but  encourage  others  to  do  it,  or  even  look  on  complacently  and  con- 
senting, while  others  do  it,  is  double-dyed.     A  man  may  be  overtaken  by 


62  EPISTLE   TO    THE   K0:MANS. 

temptation,  and  sin  in  his  own  person,  while  actually  condemning  his  own 
act,  and  loathing  himself  while  he  commits  it.  But  to  look  on  with  any- 
thing like  pleasure  or  concurrence,  while  another  is  committing  it,  impUes 
that  he  has  deliberately  taken  part  with  eyil. 

CHAP.  II.   1—10. 

(1)  Wherefore  thou  art  without  excuse,  0  man, 
whosoever  thou  art  that  judgest ;  for,  whilst  thou  art 
judging  the  other,  thou  condemnest  thyself ;  for  thou, 
that  art  judging,  doest  the  same  things.  (2)  Now,  we 
know  that  the  judgment  of  God  is  according  to  truth 
upon  those  doing  such  things.  (3)  But  dost  thou  cal- 
culate this,  0  man,  thou  that  judgest  those  doing  such 
things  and  doest  them,  that  thou  shalt  wholly  escape 
the  judgment  of  God  ?  (4)  Or  dost  thou  make  light 
of  the  riches  of  His  Goodness  and  Forbearance  and 
Long-suffering,  not  perceiving  that  the  Goodness  of 
God  is  leading  thee  to  repentance  ?  (5)  But  after  thy 
hardness  and  impenitent  heart  dost  thou  treasure 
for  thyself  wrath  in  the  day  of  wrath,  and  revelation  of 
the  righteous  judgment  of  God  ?  (6) — who  will  give 
back  to  each  according  to  his  deeds  ;  (7)  to  those,  who 
with  endurance  in  well-doing  are  seeking  glory  and 
honour  and  immortality,  Life  Eternal ;  (8)  while  for 
those  of  party-spirit,  and  disobedient  to  the  truth,  but 
yielding  themselves  up  to  iniquity,  tJiere  is  indignation 
and  wrath  ;  (9)  tribulation  and  anguish  upon  every 
soul  of  man  that  worketh  out  evil,  of  the  Jew  first  and 
also  of  the  Greek ;  (10)  but  glory,  and  honour,  and 
peace,  to  every  one  that  worketh  good,  to  the  Jew  first 
and  also  to  the  Greek. 


CHAP.  IIo  1 — 10.  63 


NOTES. 

49.  y.  1.  thou  art  ivithout  excuse.  The  Apostle,  having  carried  his 
Jewish  reader  along  with  him,  while  he  brings  under  '  God's  wrath ' — not 
the  heathen,  bodily  and  universally,  (he  will  speak  of  them  afterwards,)  but 
those  among  them  who,  knowingly  and  wilfully  practise  the  abominable 
things  of  which  he  had  been  speaking, — such  as  '  knew  in  themselves  the 
judgment  of  God,'  declared  against  such  things,  yet  '  not  only  did  them, 
but  consented  to  those  who  did  them,' — now  turns  sharply  round  upon  the 
Jew  himself,  and  asks,  if  he  can  possibly  doubt  that  the  same,  or  a  heavier, 
judgment  must  light  upon  a  vicious  Jew — not,  again,  upon  the  Jews, 
bodily  and  universally,  (he  will  speak  of  them  also  afterwards,)  but  upon 
such  as  practised  the  very  sins,  which  they  condemned  in  others,  or  other 
like  sins.  He  wants,  in  fact,  as  has  been  said  before,  to  introduce,  as  it 
were,  '  the  small  end  of  the  wedge,'  and  then  afterwards  he  will  strike  it 
home,  in  the  case  of  both  Jew  and  Gentile.  The  idea  was  so  new  and 
strange  to  the  Jewish  mind  of  that  day,  that  they  were  to  be  treated  just 
like  the  Gentiles,  or  rather  dealt  with  more  severely,  as  their  privileges 
had  been  so  much  greater,  but  treated  by  one  and  the  same  righteous  law, 
according  to  their  lives,  '  according  to  their  deeds,' — not  treated  with 
special  favouritism,  sheltered  and  screened  from  wrath,  because  of  their 
descent  from  Abraham,  their  knowledge  of  the  law,  their  practice  of  cir- 
cumcision,— that  St.  Paul  judiciously  adopts  this  course,  in  order  to  set 
before  the  mind  of  his  pious  reader,  whether  a  Jew  or  Roman  proselyte, 
the  startling  result,  to  which  his  Jewish  theory  would  carry  him.  That 
result  would  be  no  other  than  this,  that  an  utterly  vicious,  though  en- 
lightened, Jew  would  be  wholly  exempted  from  feeling  the  weight  of  that 
wrath,  which,  as  his  own  conscience  told  him,  was  declared  from  the  God 
of  Heaven  against  all  wilful  sin,  and  Avhich  he  readily  admitted  to  be  de- 
served in  the  case  of  the  vicious,  but  ignorant.  Gentile.  He  wishes  to 
make  him  stagger,  as  it  were,  at  being  brought  face  to  face  with  such  a 
conclusion  as  this,  and  to  begin  to  question  whether,  after  all,  the  great 
principle  of  Judaism  was  so  irrefragably  true.  At  all  events,  he  will  thus 
prepare  him  to  listen  more  attentively  to  what  he  will  now  go  on  to  say. 

For  it  is  certain  that  St.  Paul  could  not  possibly  mean  that  the  pious 
people  at  Rome  to  whom  he  was  writing,  were  '  doing  these  same  things,' 
while  they  condemned  others.  "Whatever  faults  they  were  still  committing 
daily,  through  the  infirmity  of  the  flesh,  jet  he  would  not  surely  think  of 
speaking  of  them,  as  persons  who  habitually  committed  '  theft,'  'adultery,' 
or  *  sacrilege,'  through  whom  '  the  name  of  God  was  blasphemed  among 
the  heathen,'  any  more  than,  in  the  first  chapter,  he  would  hav6  spoken  of 


64  EPISTLE   TO    THE   KOMANS. 

the  great  and  good  among  the  heathen,  as  '  being  filled  with  all  iniquity, 
fornication,  uncleanness,  &e.'  All,  that  he  wishes  at  this  point  to  do,  is  to 
shake  the  fixed  prejudice  of  his  readers,  as  to  the  point  of  the  Jew's  im- 
munity from  judgment  and  wrath,  only  because  he  is  a  circumcised  child 
of  Abraham.  If  he  can  do  this  in  the  case  of  some,  he  can  do  it  for  all ; 
he  can  bring  them  to  confess  that  every  Jew,  even  the  most  pious,  must 
lie  under  '  sentence  to  God.'  If  he  can  bring  them  to  feel  that  a  wicked 
Jew  must  be  subject  to  '  wrath '  as  well  as  other  men,  he  can  then  bring 
home  the  pure  and  holy  Law  of  God  to  the  tender  heart  and  conscience  of 
the  most  faithful  believer,  convincing  him  too  of  his  need  of  '  righteous- 
ness ' — a  righteousness,  which  his  Jewish  privileges  cannot  give  him,  which 
he  cannot  work  out  for  himself  in  any  way,  which  must  be  the  free  gift  of 
God's  Love,  and  which  he  must  be  willing  to  receive,  with  humility  and 
thankfulness,  like  any  poor  ignorant  heathen.  In  short,  setting  out  with 
the  statement,  (which  he  assumes  to  need  no  proof,  for  the  truth  of  it  is 
manifest  to  the  consciences  of  men,  and  in  God's  general  dealings  with 
mankind,)  that  the  '  wrath  of  God '  is  revealed  upon  all  wilful  and  conscious 
8171,  he  will  come,  at  last,  to  conclude  the  whole  world,  Jew  as  well  as 
Gentile,  under  sin — to  show  that  they  are  all  under  judgment,  though  not 
all  under  wrath — that  they  all,  therefore,  need  this  '  righteousness '  which 
is  revealed  in  the  Gospel,  as  God's  free  gift  to  men,  to  the  whole  human 
race,  in  order  that,  possessing  it,  they  may  be  able  to  stand  and  rejoice 
before  Him  as  their  Judge. 

Turning  then,  as  the  Apostle  does,  so  sharply  upon  his  reader  at  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter,  he  takes  for  granted  that  he  will  feel,  at  once, 
the  real  point  of  his  question.  The  pious  Jew  will  see  that  the  argument 
does,  indeed,  indirectly,  and  most  vitally,  concern  himself,  inasmuch  as 
what  is  true  for  great  transgressions  must  be  true  in  a  measure  for  all. 
But  yet  he  will  see  this  through  the  outward  form  of  the  question,  and  will 
allow  the  Apostle  to  argue  on,  understanding  of  himself  that  the  strong 
words  used,  however  implicitly  they  may  involve  him  also,  are  not  meant 
directly  to  apply  to  every  Jew,  such  as  himself,  or,  indeed,  to  any  one  in 
particular,  but  to  any  man  whatsoever,  Jew  or  Gentile,  who  condemns  an- 
other for  doing  such  things,  showing  thereby  that  he  knows  that  they  are 
wrong  in  themselves,  and  yet  does  them. 

50.  V.  1.  whosoever.  With  this  word  he  begins  to  drag  in  the  Jew ; 
'whosoever,  whether  child  of  Abraham  or  not.' 

51.  V.  1.  that  judgest — that  hast  gone  along  with  me  in  all  that  I  have 
said,  about  the  '  wrath  of  God '  being  '  revealed '  upon  all  those  among  the 
heathen,  who  '  keep  back  the  truth  through  iniquity.' 

52.  V.  1.  whilst,  not    '  wherein,'  E.  V.     This  is  a  very  common  use 


CHAP.  n.  1 — 10.  65 

of  the  Greek  phrase  here  translated ;  see  Mark  ii.  19,  Luke  v.  34,  John 
V.  7. 

53.  V.  1.  thou  condemnest  thyself .  '  You  show  that  you  have  a  light 
to  guide  you,  a  knowledge  of  what  is  right  by  the  very  power  you  exercise 
of  judging  others.  Therefore,  doing  the  same  things  yourself,  you^  certain- 
ly (whatever  may  be  true  of  those  others),  are  sinning  against  the  light,  and 
are  "  without  excuse,"  even  as  you  agreed  with  me  in  saying  (i.  20)  that 
they  are  "  without  excuse." ' 

54.  V.  2.  we  knoio  that  the  judgfnent  of  God  is  according  to  truth.  He 
is  referring  to  what  he  had  said  in  the  former  chapter,  in  which  he  sup- 
poses his  reader  to  have  fully  agreed  with  him.  '  We  know, — we  are 
sure,  from  reason  and  conscience,  as  well  as  revelation, — we  have  no 
doubt — we  admit,  in  fact,  in  respect  of  those  heathens,  that  God  will 
judge  "according  to  the  truth,"  according  to  the  actual  facts  of  the  case, 
rendering  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds,  and  not  according  to  what 
he  may  think  or  fancy.  Will  He  not,  think  you,  judge  "  according  to 
truth "  in  the  case  of  the  Jew  also,  not  according  to  his  own  mistaken 
notion  of  his  birthright  and  pecuhar  privileges  ? ' 

55.  v.  3.  wholly  escape.  This  gives  better  the  force  of  the  Greek ; 
'  clean  escape,'  not  merely  '  escape,'  as  in  the  E.  V. 

56.  V.  4.  or  dost  thou  make  light  of  the  riches  of  His  Goodness,  d:c. 
*  Or  art  thou  so  taken  up  with  high  notions  of  thine  own  dignity  and 
security,  as  a  child  of  Abraham,  that  thou  regardest  as  a  light  thing  God's 
exceeding  mercy,  that  He  bears  so  long  with  you,  still  seeking  that  you 
should  repent  and  live?  '  The  Apostle  asks  two  questions :  (1)  Dost  thou 
think  that  thou  shalt  altogether  escape  judgment  ?  (2)  If  not,  then  art 
thou  still  presuming  on  thy  supposed  state  of  favour,  and  making  light 
of  the  mercy,  which  gives  thee  time  and  Opportunity  for  forsaking  thy 
evil  deeds  ? 

57.  V.  4.  is  for  leading.  This  form  of  expression  is  often  required  to 
give  proper  force  to  the  Greek  Present.  We  shall  find  other  instances  of 
it  in  this  Epistle. 

58.  V.  4.  to  repentance.  He  seems  to  be  here  just  hinting  at  that 
which  he  suggests  more  distinctly  afterwards,  namely,  that  the  long  con- 
tinuance of  the  Jewish  nation,  in  the  enjoyment  of  extraordinary  blessings, 
was  no  sign  that  any  individual  member  of  it,  or  the  nation  as  a  whole,  was 
to  be  exempt  from  God's  righteous  judgment,  by  any  special  act  of  favour- 
itism. On  the  contrary,  what  if  the  Great  Husbandman  has  been  all  the 
while  digging  and  manuring,  if  haply  He  may  find  fruit  at  the  last  ? 

59.  V.  6,  who  will  render  to  each  according  to  his  deeds.  This  is  the 
point,  which  the  Apostle  must  reiterate  again  and  again,  that  all  will  be 


66  EPISTLE  TO   THE   ROMAICS. 

judged  according  to  their  deeds.  The  Jew  will  not  be  treated  with  any 
favouritism.  On  the  contrary,  having  received  so  much  more  than  others, 
so  much  the  more  will  be  required  of  him.  The  Apostle  is  seeking  to  shat- 
ter by  repeated  blows,  in  all  manner  of  ways,  this  fond  notion  of  their  being 
favourites  with  God,— their  having  grace  given  them  above  others  for 
some  special  merit  in  themselves,  or  on  account  of  their  extraction — which 
he  knew  would  sap  all  the  life  out  of  their  Christianity. 

60.  V.  Y.  with  endurance  in  well  doitig,  not  '  by  endurance  &c.'  E.  V., 
as  if  these  sought  glory,  &c.,  by  their  deeds.  The  Greek  implies  that  they 
pursued  their  course  of  goodness,  not  as  the  means  to  a  certain  end,  but  as 
the  course  which  was  right  in  itself,  pursuing  which,  however,  they  be- 
lieved also  that  they  should  attain  the  end  of  their  soul's  desire. 

61.  V.  7.  endurance^  not  merely  'patience,'  or  'patient  continuance.' 
The  Greek  word  is  expressed  better  by  '  endurance,'  which  implies  '  con- 
tinuance under  hardship  or  difficulty.' 

62.  V.  7.  Life  Eternal.  This,  then,  is  the  reward  which  God  gives  to 
all,  who  endure  in  well-doing,  '  seeking  glory  and  honour  and  immortality,' 
that  is,  consciously  aiming  at  higher  things  than  those  of  time  and  sense, 
and  so  evidencing  that  their  hearts  are  already  in  some  measure  quickened 
with  spiritual  life.  Seeking  thus,  they  shall  find  supplied  to  them,  even  in 
this  life,  the  living  bread  and  the  living  water,  which  their  souls  really 
longed  for.  They  shall  have  vouchsafed  to  them  some  knowledge  of  Him, 
whom  to  know  is  Life  Eternal.  And  that  shall  be  a  pledge  and  a  foretaste 
of  yet  fuller  joys  to  come. 

63.  V.  8.  to  those  of  party-spirit.  The  Greek  word  here  translated 
'  party -spirit,'  has  been  confounded  by  our  translators  with  another  some- 
what like  it,  which  means  '  contention.'  The  same  word  occurs  in  Phil, 
i.  16,  ii.  3,  in  both  which  passages  it  means  as  here,  '  party -spirit,'  and  it  is 
never  used  for  '  contention'  or  '  strife,'  simply.  In  Phil.  ii.  3,  it  is  coupled 
with  '  vain-glory ; '  and  the  compound  expression  completely  describes  the 
proud,  self-confident,  exclusiveness,  of  the  Jew,  who  professed,  indeed,  to 
know  God  and  to  teach  others  to  know  Him,  but,  instead  of  seeking  true 
glory  and  honour  and  immortality,  the  praise  which  cometh  from  God,  in 
faithfulness  of  daily  life,  sought  only  to  glorify  himself  and  his  nation,  as 
the  special  favourites  of  God,  the  only  people  who  were  permitted  to  know 
Him.  They  made  religion  a  party  thing  for  their  own  exaltation ;  while, 
at  the  same  time,  living  ungodly  lives,  and  dishonouring  God  among  the 
heathen. 

64.  V.  8.  disobedient  to  the  truth — ^that  is,  the  truth,  the  true  and  right 
so  far  as  they  know  it — that  which  has  been  revealed  to  them  of  the  truth, 


CHAP.  II.  1—10.  67 

with  more  or  less  of  fulness  and  clearness — consciously  disobedient  to  the 
truth,  and  willingly  complying  with  falsehood. 

65.  V.  8.  yielding  thetnselves.  The  Greek  word  is  in  the  middle  voice, 
and  expresses  that  the  ivill  goes  with  the  deed,  that  they  give  themselves 
up  to  iniquity. 

66.  V.  8.  there  is  indignation  and  wrath.  The  construction  of  the 
sentence  is  here  changed  in  the  Greek,  ('  Life  Eternal'  being  in  the  accusa- 
tive case,  'indignation  and  wrath'  in  the  nominative,)  perhaps,  because 
these  latter  words  did  not  well  suit  the  foregoing  verb.  God  gives  '  Eternal 
Life ; '  but  He  cannot  so  well  be  said  to  give  '  indignation  and  wrath.' 

67.  V.  9.  every  soul  of  man ^  that  is  '  every  person,'  as  in  xii.  1. 

68.  V.  9.  worketh  out  evil,  with  a  will,  resolutely,  abandoning  himself 
to  it,  fidfilling  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  instead  of  fighting  with  them ;  but 
V.  10,  ivorketh  good,  (the  Greek  word  is  different,)  because,  at  the  best,  we 
cannot  so  fully  work  out  the  good  as  we  may  the  evil.  It  should  be  noticed 
that  St.  Paul  speaks  of  this  '  tribulation  and  anguish,'  not  for  the  soul  of 
every  man  that  worketh  evil,  (for  that  even  good  men  may  do  at  times,)  but 
that  worketh  out  evil. 

69.  V.  9.  and  also  of  the  Greek,  that  is,  of  the  heathen,  not  merely 
the  believing  Greek  or  Gentile,  as  is  plain,  both  from  the  Apostle's  whole 
argument,  and  from  his  going  on  to  speak  of  men  '  doing  by  nature  the 
work  of  the  Law,'  who  '  have  no  revelation,  but  are  a  law  to  themselves.' 

70.  V.  10.  glory,  and  honour,  and  peace,  to  every  one  that  worketh 
good.  In  the  former  words,  v.  Y,  where  he  spoke  of  men  '  seeking  glory, 
and  honour,  and  immortality,'  he  appears  to  have  had  in  view  devout  and 
earnest  minds  of  a  higher  class,  whether  Jews  or  converts  from  among  the 
Gentiles  to  Judaism  or  Christianity,  or  such  as  Socrates,  Cicero,  and  others, 
who  eagerly  '  felt '  after  God  amidst  the  darkness  of  heathenism,  and  so  had 
been  graciously  permitted  in  their  measure  to  '  find '  Him.  To  these  men, 
who  were  consciously  seeking  after  higher  blessings  than  this  life  could 
give,  he  says,  God  will  give  that  highest  transcendant  gift,  Eternal  Life. 
But  now  he  speaks  of  others,  not  so  highly  gifted  or  privileged  as  these, 
and  he  uses  more  comprehensive  language.  He  wishes  to  embrace  the 
faithful  and  true  of  heart  of  every  kind,  all  those  who  '  work  good,'  whether 
Jew  or  Greek — all  that  are  obedient  to  that  measure  of  the  truth  which 
has  been  revealed  to  them,  however  small  it  may  be, — those  who  '  do  by 
nature  the  things  of  the  Law,'  who  '  do  justice,  and  love  mercy,  and  walk 
humbly  with  their  God,'  according  to  the  light  vouchsafed  to  them.  Who 
or  how  many  there  may  be,  such  as  these,  among  the  heathen,  we  are 
utterly  unable  to  judge :  God  knoweth.  The  Apostle  does  not  here  speak 
of  these  as  sharing  the  gift  of  Eternal  Life,  whether  they  do  or  not,  as  a 


68  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

matter  of  fact.  But,  he  says,  such  as  these  shall  have  the  '  glory  and 
honour,'  which  cometh  from  the  righteous  Judge,  and  within  their  hearts 
that  '  peace,'  which  is  the  sign  of  an  approving  conscience,  and  the  witness 
of  God's  favour  towards  them — a  peace,  which  the  things  of  this  world  can- 
not give  or  take  away,  and  which  passes  understanding. 

CHAP.  II.    11—16. 

(11)  For  there  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God. 
(12)  For  allj  who  sinned  without  law,  without  law  too 
will  perish  ;  and  all  who  sinned  under  law,  by  law  will 
be  judged.  (13)  For  not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are 
righteous  with  God  ;  but  the  doers  of  the  law  shall  be 
made  righteous, — (14)  the  doers  of  the  law,  I  say ;  for 
whenever  nations,  which  have  not  law,  do  by  nature  the 
things  of  the  law,  these,  though  not  having  law,  are  law 
to  themselves  ;  (15)  such  as  show  the  outcome  of  the 
law  written  in  their  hearts,  their  conscience  witnessing 
with  (it),  and  between  one  another  their  reasonings 
accusing  or  else  excusing; — (16)  in  the  day  when  God 
will  judge  the  secrets  of  men,  according  to  my  Gospel, 
by  Jesus  Christ. 

NOTES. 

71.  V.  11.  there  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God.  St.  Paul  is  here 
quoting  the  words  of  Deut.  x.  lY,  as  well-known  to  his  readers,  'God  re- 
gardeth  not  persons ; '  but  he  uses  them  in  a  wider  sense  than  they  had 
ever  thought  of. 

12.  V.  12.  without  Zaw,  that  is,  without  any  written  revelation  of  God's 
will,  such  as  the  Jews  had. 

1Z.  V.  12.  imder  law^  literally  '  in  law,'  as  in  a  house  or  place,  so  as 
to  be  surrounded  with  it. 

74.  V.  12.  will  perish.  What  this  word  '  perishing '  means  is  not  ex- 
plained :  we  shall  see  more  plainly  hereafter.  But  the  '  sin,'  spoken  of  in 
this  verse,—'  all  who  sin  without  law  will  perish,' — is  the  same,  of  course, 
of  which  St.  Paul  has  been  speaking  all  along — the  sin  of  those,  whether 
Jews,  Christians,  or  Heathens,  who  '  keep  back  the  truth  through  iniquity,' 
who  consciously  persist  in  doing  what  they  know  to  be  wrong,  who  '  do  not 


CHAP.  II.  11—16.  69 

obey  the  truth,  but  yield  themselves  up  to  iniquity.'  Their  own  consciences 
tell  such  men  as  plainly  as  the  Bible  tells  them,  that  they  are  working  death 
for  themselves.  Those  who  have  no  revelation,  yet  who  sin  thus  against 
the  light  they  have,  and  the  law  in  their  own  minds,  know  that  they  are  in- 
juring their  own  inner  being,  and  becoming  daily  more  dark  and  cold  in 
spirit,  more  helplessly  bound  in  the  fetters  of  evil ;  and  they  feel,  withal,  a 
wretched  sense  of  guilt  and  uneasiness  within;  which  tells  of  the  '  Wrath  of 
God '  being  revealed  in  their  own  hearts  against  the  wickedness  of  their 
lives.  In  one  word,  they  are  '  perishing '  by  the  moral  law  of  nature  ;  nor, 
in  fact,  does  the  voice  of  revelation  bind  the  judgment  more  certainly  upon 
them,  than  the  voice  of  their  own  consciences. 

75.  V.  13.  not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are  righteous  with  God.  The 
Jews  are  not  righteous  before  God,  in  the  sight  of  God,  as  they  supposed, 
because  they  had  the  Law,  and  heard  it,  and  were  taught  out  of  it  to  know 
the  only  true  and  living  God  and  His  requirements,  whereas  the  ignorant 
heathen  worshipped  their  innumerable  idols.  Xor  are  Christians  righteous 
before  God,  for  a  similar  reason,  because  they  have  the  more  glorious  reve- 
lation of  God's  Truth  and  Love  in  the  Gospel. 

76.  V.  13.  the  doers  of  the  law  shall  he  made  righteous.  No  human 
being,  whether  he  be  Heathen,  Jew,  or  Christian,  is  righteous  in  virtue  of 
his  own  merit  of  any  kind,  so  as  to  be  able  to  stand  before  God  as  a  right- 
eous creature,  in  the  strength  of  his  own  righteousness.  But  all  who, 
according  to  the  light  and  strength  vouchsafed  to  them,  are  '  doers  of  the 
Law,' — all  who  do  what  is  right  and  good  and  true,  as  far  as  they  know  it, 
— shall  be  '  7yiade  righteous,'  shall  have  God's  righteousness  freely  given  to 
them,  shall  be  pronounced  to  be  righteous,  counted  as  righteous,  dealt  with 
as  righteous — in  one  word,  shall  be  regarded  by  God  as  His  own  dear 
Children,  not  by  virtue  of  any  merit  or  claim,  which  any  one  of  them  can 
derive  from  *  the  Law  or  Sect  which  he  professeth '  (Art.  xviii.),  as  if  he 
could  be  saved  from  God's  wrath  by  that,  but  by  virtue  of  God's  Free  Grace 
alone,  declared  to  us  in  His  Son,  Christ  Jesus. 

77.  V.  14.  for  whenever  nations.,  (be.  St.  Paul  has  just  used  the  ex- 
pression '  doers  of  the  Law,'  intending  to  include  under  that  description 
both  Jews  and  Gentiles.  But,  remembering  that  he  was,  perhaps,  going 
too  fast  for  his  Jewish  readers,  who  would  hardly  follow  him  at  once  in 
this  generalization,  he  interrupts  his  sentence  (which  is  completed  in  v. 
16,)  to  show,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  that  the  good  and  true  among  the 
heathen  might  rightly  be  called  '  doers  of  the  Law,'  though  they  had  no 
written  revelation. 

78.  V.  15.  the  outcome  of  the  Law — that  which  is  produced,  the  essen- 
tial product,  the  real  thing  in  which  the  law  results,  '  that  which  it  is  its 


70  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

business  to  teach  and  enforce,  its  purport.'  {Vaughan.)  Though  the 
heathen  have  not  particular  laws,  as  the  Jews,  regulating  their  conduct  in 
this  or  that  respect,  yet  they  have  certain  principles  to  guide  them,  which 
principles  these  particular  laws  of  the  Jews  were  meant  to  exhibit  and  en- 
force. So  our  Lord  sums  up  the  '  work,'  or  '  outcome,'  of  the  whole  Law 
in  one  short  sentence :  '  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
mind,  and  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength, 
and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself 

79.  V.  15.  their  conscience  witnessing  with  (it),  that  is,  with  the  pur- 
port of  the  Law  written  in  their  hearts.  That,  which  the  mind's  eye  reads 
there  written,  the  conscience  attests  to  be  good,  and  bears  witness  with  it 
that  it  is  a  word  written  by  the  finger  of  God ;  just  as  the  conscience  bears 
witness  with  any  Divine  Truth,  which  we  may  read  in  the  Bible  or  else- 
where, and  attests  it  to  be  good,  to  be  a  word  of  God. 

80.  V.  15.  and  between  one  another,  (kc.  Not  only  does  the  conscience 
of  each  individual  testify  to  the  goodness  of  the  law,  but  there  is  also  '  pub- 
lic opinion '  about  things  right  and  wrong,  and  men,  '  between  one  another, 
in  their  mutual  intercourse,  can  'reason'  and  judge  accurately  about  the 
conduct  of  others. 

81.  v.  16.  m  the  day,  d:c.  Here  the  Apostle  completes  the  sentence 
interrupted  at  the  end  of  v.  13.  • 

In  the  fifth  chapter  St.  Paul  will  tell  us  that  '  the  grace  of  God  and  the 
free  gift  by  grace,'  the  gift  of  righteousness,  '  abounded  unto  the  many,'' 
unto  '  all  men,'  unto  the  whole  human  race  that  fell  in  Adam.  He  says 
that,  under  the  new. covenant  of  the  Grace  of  God  in  the  Gospel,  all  human 
beings  were  declared  to  be  accepted  before  God,  as  the  Jews  were  declared 
to  be  under  the  old  covenant ;  they  were  all  pronounced  to  be  righteous, 
not  accursed,  creatures — righteous  not  in  themselves,  but  for  the  sake  of 
Christ,  their  Head, — to  be  dealt  with,  all  of  them,  as  children,  not  as  out- 
casts. In  the  passage,  however,  which  we  are  now  considering,  and  all 
along  till  we  get  to  these  expressions  of  the  fifth  chapter,  St.  Paul  is  not 
speaking  of  infants,  and  young  children,  and  the  whole  human  race,  but 
only  of  the  faithful  and  true-hearted  among  them,  who  '  do  the  works  of 
the  law,'  according  to  their  light  and  the  strength  vouchsafed  to  them ;  and 
such  as  these,  he  says,  shall  be  declared  righteous  in  the  '  day  of  judgment.' 
Whenever  Christ  shall  appear  to  visit  and  judge  in  His  Father's  Xame,  now 
amidst  the  affairs  of  daily  life,  as  well  as  on  the  Great  Day  of  future  account, 
they  shall  be  pronounced  righteous.  They  shall  have  a  righteousness  given 
them  by  the  free  grace  of  God;  they  shall  have  the  actual  enjoyment  of 
this  gift ;  they  shall  realize  the  blessedness  of  having  '  their  unrighteous- 
ness forgiven,  and  their  sins  covered.'     In  the  Apostle's  view,  in  fact,  the 


CHAP.  11.  17—24.  71 

gift  of  righteousness  is  being  continually  renewed  to  such  as  these  by  the 
free  forgiveness  of  sin  in  this  life,  as  well  as  finally  declared  on  the  great 
day  of  account, — not  merely  given  once  for  all  at  first.  We  shall  see  this 
more  plainly  as  we  proceed. 

82,  V.  16.  according  to  my  Gospel^  hy  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  no  part 
of  St.  Paul's  Gospel  (that  is,  of  course,  the  Gospel  which  he  preached,)  to 
teach  that  God  would  judge  the  world,  or  to  teach  that  Jew  and  Gentile 
would  equally  be  brought  under  that  judgment.  For  that  he  had  only  to 
appeal  to  the  consciences  of  men,  as  well  as  to  the  old  Jewish  Scriptures. 
*  Say  unto  the  righteous,  it  shall  be  well  with  him ;  say  unto  the  wicked  it 
shall  be  ill  with  him.'  The  ministers  of  the  Gospel  were  not  sent  to  deliver 
this  message ;  though  they  often  had  occasion,  as  the  Apostle  had  here,  to 
recall  the  thoughts  of  men  to  the  fact,  that  there  was  a  righteous  order  in 
the  world,  and  that  the  day  would  surely  come,  when  a  righteous  Governor 
would  judge  the  secrets  of  men. 

The  new  message  of  the  Gospel,  in  connection  with  the  matter  now  be- 
fore us,  is  this,  that  this  judgment  shall  be  conducted  '  by  Jesus  Christ ' — 
that  the  Father  'hath  given  Him  authority  to  execute  judgment  upon  the 
sons  of  men,  because  He  is  the  Son  of  Man.'  And  this  is  a  word  of  com- 
fort and  Hope  for  us.  For  He,  we  are  sure,  has  a  tender  sympathy  for  us 
His  brethren,  and  can  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities  ;  and 
though  dealing  a  righteous  judgment  to  each  according  to  his  deeds.  He 
will  know  how  to  mingle  mercy  with  judgment  as  each  case  shall  require. 

CHAP.  II.    17—24 

(17)  Beliold  !  thou  art  called  a  ]qw,  and  reposest 
on  the  Law,  and  gloriest  in  God^  (18)  and  knowest  the 
Will  of  God,  and  distinguishest  the  things  which  are 
more  excellent,  getting  orally  instructed  out  of  the 
Law  ;  (19)  and  thou  art  confident  that  thou  thyself 
art  a  ^  guide  of  the  blind,'  a  ^  light  to  those  in  darkness,' 
(20)  an  '  educator  of  simple  ones,'  a  '  teacher  of  babes,' 
having  the  embodiment  of  knowledge  and  truth  in  the 
law  !  (21)  Thou,  then,  that  art  for  teaching  another, 
teachest  thou  not  thyself  ?  Thou,  that  preachest  not 
to  steal,  dost  thou  steal  ?  (22)  Thou,  that  sayest  not 
to   commit    adultery,    dost    thou    commit    adultery  ? 


72  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOiMANS. 

Thou,  that  abominatest  idols,  dost  thou  plunder 
temples  ?  (23)  Thou,  that  gloriest  in  Law,  through 
transgression  of  that  Law  dost  thou  dishonour  God  ? 
(24)  For  the  ^Name  of  God  is  being  blasphemed 
through  you  among  the  nations,'  as  it  is  written. 

NOTES. 

83.  T.  17,  thou  art  called  a  Jew.  As  has  been  said  before,  the  Apostle 
sets  before  himself  and  his  readers  a  Jew  of  the  very  worst  class,  not,  of 
course,  meaning  to  say  that  any  of  them  were  such,  but  endeavouring  in 
this  way  to  get  in  the  point  of  his  weapon,  at  the  weakest  part  of  his  sup- 
posed opponent's  case,  and  knowing  that,  if  he  can  once  get  a  Jew  to  admit 
that  any  one  son  of  Abraham  may  and  must  be  judged,  like  any  other  man, 
by  the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  without  favouritism,  he  will  have  struck 
a  death-blow  at  the  whole  corrupt  system  of  Judaism.  Perhaps  he  may 
have  in  his  eye,  even  more  than  the  Jew  himself,  the  Roman  proselyte, 
whose  Judaism,  however  strong,  would  not  be,  as  it  were,  ingrained  or 
inbred.  These  might,  in  some  cases,  at  all  events,  be  more  ready  to  yield 
access  to  the  truth ;  and  they  would  naturally  desire,  if  it  were  possible,  to 
see  their  friends  and  kindred  embraced  within  the  pale  of  God's  grace,  and 
not  shut  out,  by  the  exclusive  spirit  of  the  Jewish  religion,  till  they  too 
had  submitted  to  become  one  with  the  Jews. 

84.  V.  19.  ^  guide  of  the  blind,''  6cc.  These  are  titles  which  the  Jews, 
or  their  Rabbles,  actually  assumed  with  reference  to  those  of  their  own 
people,  as  well  as  the  heathen,  who  came  under  their  influence  as  teachers. 

85.  V.  22.  plunder  temples.  It  would  seem  that  some  Jews  did  really 
pilfer  or  plunder  from  the  temples  of  the  heathen  gods,  in  the  to^vns  where 
they  dwelt ;  thus,  of  course,  exciting  the  just  indignation  of  the  natives. 
See  Acts  xix.  37,  and  Joseph.  Antt.  iv.  8,  10.  Their  merely  defrauding 
the  Temple  of  its  sacrifices,  or  the  priests  and  Levites  of  their  portions,  (for 
which  the  Jews  are  blamed  in  Neh,  xiii.  10 — 12,  Mai.  i.  13,  14,  iii.  8,  9,) 
would  not  be  likely  to  attract  the  notice,  and  excite  the  indignation  of  the 
Gentiles. 

86.  V.  24.  as  it  is  written,  namely  in  Ezek.  xxxvi.  20 — 23.  But  in 
the  whole  of  this  passage,  as  well  as  in  the  kindred  one,  Isaiah  Iii.  5,  refer- 
ence is  to  the  dishonour  done  to  God's  Name,  not  by  the  immoral  conduct 
of  His  people,  but  by  their  suffering  and  humiliation,  which  brought  a  re- 
proach upon  the  Lord  their  God,  as  if  He  could  not  save  them.  So  that 
St.  Paul  has  here  merely  made  use,  as  he  often  does,  of  an  apt  quotation, 
which  occurs  to  him,  as  an  expression  of  his  own  thought. 


CHAP.  in.  1 — 8.  73 

CHAP.  II.  25—29. 
(25)  For  circumcision,  indeed,  profiteth,  if  thou  be 
a  doer  of  the  Law  ;  but,  if  thou  be  a  transgressor  of 
the  Law,  thy  circumcision  has  become  uncircumcision. 
(26)  If,  then,  the  Uncircumcision  keep  the  require- 
ments of  the  Law,  shall  not  his  uncircumcision  be 
reckoned  for  circumcision  ?  (27)  and  that,  which  is 
Uncircumcision  by  nature,  fulfilling  the  Law,  judge 
thee,  who,  with  the  letter  and  circumcision,  art  a 
transgressor  of  the  Law  ?  (28)  For  not  he,  who  is 
so  apparently,  is  a  Jew,  nor  is  that,  which  is  apparent 
in  the  flesh,  circumcision.  (29)  But  he,  who  is  so  in 
secret,  is  a  Jew,  and  circumcision  is  of  the  heart,  in 
the  spirit,  not  in  the  letter, — whose  praise  is  not  of 
men,  but  of  God. 

NOTES. 

87.  V.  25.  for  circumcision,  d'c.  It  is  obvious  that  this  whole  passage 
may  be  directly  applied  to  the  case  of  Christians  and  Heathens,  as  in  the 
following  paraphrase :  '  The  baptism  of  a  Christian  has  a  meaning  and  use, 
if  he  walks  faithfully ;  otherwise  his  baptism  becomes  a  mere  nullity.  If, 
then,  an  unbaptized  heathen  does  that  which  is  good  and  right  and  true, 
shall  not  his  unbaptized  state  be  reckoned  for  baptism  ?  and  they,  which 
are  heathens  by  nature,  and  walking  according  to  the  light  vouchsafed  to 
them,  judge  those,  who,  baptized  Christians  as  they  are,  yet  knowingly 
transgress  the  law  of  their  Lord  ?  For  he  is  not  a  Christian,  who  is  so 
merely  in  name  and  profession,  nor  is  that  true  baptism,  which  is  only  out- 
wardly with  water.  But  the  Christian  in  God's  sight  is  he  who  is  one 
inwardly ;  and  the  baptism,  which  is  of  value  before  Him,  is  that  of  the 
heart,  in  the  spirit,  not  in  the  outward  form.' 

88.  V.  29.  whose.  The  Greek  relative,  here  employed,  must  be  referred 
either  to  the  true  Jew,  or  to  the  true  Jew  and  the  true  circumcision,  as  a 
whole,  taken  collectively. 

CHAP.  III.    1—8. 
(1)  '  What  then  is  the  advantage  of  the  Jew,  or 
what  the  profit  of  circumcision  ?  '     (2)  Much,  in  every 


74:  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMAICS. 

way.  Why,  in  the  first  place,  that  they  were  entrusted 
with  the  oracles  of  God.  (3)  ^  But  what  if  some  (of 
them)  were  unfaithful  ?  Surely  their  unfaithfulness 
will  not  do  away  with  the  gpod  faith  of  God  ? '  (4) 
Nay,  let  God  prove  to  be  true,  though  every  man 
should  be  a  liar,  as  it  is  written,  '  That  Thou  mightest 
be  justified  in  Thy  words,  and  prevail  when  thou 
pleadest/  (5)  ^  But,  if  our  iniquity  establishes  God's 
righteousness,  what  shall  we  say  ?  Is  God  unjust  in 
bringing  wrath  upon  us  ? '  (I  speak  after  the  manner 
of  a  man.)  (6)  Nay,  not  so  ;  since  then  how  shall 
God  judge  the  world  ?  (7)  '  But,  if  God's  truth 
abounded  through  my  lie  to  His  Glory,  why  am  I  still 
withal  to  be  judged  as  a  sinner  ?  '  (8)  And  loliy  not 
say,  as  we  are  calumniated,  and  as  some  assert  that  we 
do  say,  that  '  we  should  do  evil,  that  good  may  come ' — 
whose  judgment  is  just. 

NOTES. 

89.  V.  1.  %ohat  then  is  the  advantage  of  the  Jew?  St.  Paul  is  here 
imagining  the  thoughts  which  may  start  up  in  the  mind  of  a  Jewish  ob- 
jector, and  answering  them. 

90.  V.  2.  i7i  the  first  place ^  that  they  were  entrusted^  &c.  St.  Paul  only 
mentions  this  one  point  of  advantage,  which  the  Jew  has  above  the  heathen, 
and  then,  without  naming  others,  as  he  might  have  done,  he  is  carried  off 
by  the  impulse  of  his  argument  to  other  matters. 

All  his  language  here  again  may  be  well  applied  to  those  unfaitliful 
Christians,  who  bring  dishonour  on  the  Name  of  God  among  the  heathen 
in  the  present  day,  and  whom  the  heathen  himself,  though  unbaptized,  and 
ignorant  of  the  name  of  Christ  and  the  letter  of  Christianity,  yet  keeping 
the  law  of  truth  and  right,  according  to  his  light,  shall  one  day  judge.  For 
instance,  it  might  be  asked,  '  If  you  say  the  heathen  may  be  saved  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  what  advantage,  then,  hath  the  Christian,  or 
what  profit  is  there  in  Christian  Baptism  ? '  And  a  similar  answer  might 
be  given :  '  Much,  in  every  way :  in  the  very  first  place,  because  to  them 
are  entrusted  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  as  well 


CHAP.  III.  1 — 8.  75 

as  the  Old.'    And  to  this  we  might  go  on  to  add,  '  To  them  are  given  the 
means  of  grace,  and  the  hope  of  glory.' 

91.  V.  3.  bat  what  if  some  icere  unfaithful?  He  supposes  the  objector 
to  have  been  silenced  sufficiently  on  the  first  point,  and  to  take  up  other 
ground.  '  What,  if  some  of  our  people  have  turned  out  badly,  as  must  be 
allowed  and  broken  the  covenant,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned?  But 
God's  promise  was  made  to  the  whole  seed  of  Abraham.  Surely,  the  un- 
faithfulness of  a  few  will  not  do  away  with  His  good  faith,  will  not  be  a 
sufficient  ground  why  He  should  break  His  own  plighted  word  to  our  fore- 
fathers.' Presently  St,  Paul  will  show  that  they  have  entirely  mistaken 
the  nature  of  the  promise  made  of  old  to  Abraham.  Here,  however,  he 
reserves  his  full  reply,  and  merely  answers :  '  No  !  nothing  that  I  have  said 
or  intend  to  say — nothing  that  I  maintain  or  teach — will  amount  to  this, 
will  give  ground  for  any  such  charge  of  a  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of 
the  Holy  and  Blessed  One.'  For  the  Greek  words,  rendered  'faith'  and 
'unbelief  in  the  E.  V.,  should  here  be  translated  'faithfulness'  and  'un- 
faithfulness,' in  which  sense  both  these  words  occur  in  Soph.  CEd.  Col.  611. 
See  also  Xen.  Exp.  Cyr.  ii.  6,  21. 

92.  V.  4,  prove  to  be  true^  when  the  matter  is  examined  into,  and  seen 
as  it  really  is, 

93.  V.  5.  but  if  our  iniquity,  d'c.  The  objector  takes  up  as  it  were,  the 
Apostle's  last  words,  and  tries  to  turn  them  to  his  own  account  in  the  ar- 
gument. '  You  say  that  God's  good  faith  will  still  be  maintained  unim- 
paired in  spite  of  the  unfaithfulness  of  some  of  us.  If  this  be  the  case,  our 
unrighteousnesa  does  but  establish,  confirm,  the  righteousness  of  God. 
[The  context  would  rather  seem  to  imply  that  t'ne  expression,  '  righteous- 
ness of  God'  is  here  used  as  an  equivalent  for  the  'good  faith  of  God'  just 
spoken  of,  and  in  contrast  with  the  unrighteousness  or  iniquity  of  men. 
If,  however,  the  Apostle  be  understood  as  using  the  words  in  the  same 
sense  as  that  in  which  he  has  used  them  all  along,  for  the  righteousness 
which  God  gives  to  man,  then  t'ne  objector's  argument  is  that  the  un- 
righteousness of  His  people  only  increases  the  importance,  the  value,  and 
the  necessity  of  that  righteousness,  which  he  has  pledged  His  word  to  give 
them.  In  either  case  the  point  of  the  argniment  remains  the  same.] 
'God's  glory,  God's  purpose,  is  not  hindered  or  interfered  with  in  any  way 
by  us  through  our  iniquity.  Why  then  should  He  visit  us  with  wrath?  Is 
He  not  unrighteous  in  punishing  us,  when  v/e  have  only  given  occasion  for 
His  glory  to  shine  all  the  brighter  through  our  deficiency  ? ' 

94.  V.  5.  /  speak  after  the  manner  of  a  man,  that  is,  '  I  do  but  speak 
as  I  can  imagine  a  man  might  speak.'  The  Apostle  shrinks  from  the  very 
semblance  of  using  in  his  own  person  such  language  or  such  an  argument. 


Y6  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

95.  V.  6.  sitice  then,  hoio  shall  God  judge  the  world?  St.  Paul  does 
not,  as  yet,  directly  and  fully  reply  to  the  objector's  question ;  he  only 
negatives  it,  disclaiming,  as  before,  the  idea  that  anything  he  had  ever  said, 
or  ever  could  say,  anything  he  had  ever  taught  or  maintained,  would  lead 
justly  to  the  conclusion,  that  God  was  in  any  the  least  degree  unrighteous 
in  any  one  of  His  acts.  If  He  were,  if  there  were  one  speck  of  unrighteous- 
ness attaching  to  His  character,  how  could  He  be  fitted  to  judge  righteously 
the  world  ? — as  our  consciences  and  the  Scriptures  teach  us,  and  as  St.  Paul 
himself  had  been  laying  down  in  this  very  Epistle,  He  certainly  will. 
*  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  that  which  is  right — right  in  itself^ 
not  right,  because  He  does  it  ? '  St.  Paul  is  very  probably  referring  to  these 
words  of  Abraham. 

96.  V.  7.  but  if  God's  truth,  (kc.  The  same  objection  is  here  repeated 
in  a  slightly  different  form. 

97.  V.  7.  why  am  I  still  withal, — why  am  I,  that  have  actually  by  my 
falsehood  helped  to  make  God's  truth  more  conspicuous  and  glorious, 
(which  ought  to  be  reckoned  on  my  side  rather,)  to  be  still,  after  all  that, 
treated  as  a  sinner  ? 

98.  V.  8.  and  why  not,  d:c.  '  Yes !  And  why  not  go  on  a  step  further, 
and  carry  your  principle  to  its  proper  result  ? ' — adding  an  indignant  cen- 
sure upon  those  who,  from  his  preaching  the  free  Gospel  of  God's  grace, 
attributed  to  himself  such  an  abominable  notion. 

CHAP.  III.    9—20. 

(9)  '  What  then  ?  are  we  preferred  ?'  Not  at  all : 
for  we  have  before  laid  the  charge  that  both  Jews  and 
Gentiles  are  all  under  sin  ;  (10)  as  it  is  written  : 
'There  is  none  righteous,  not  even  one  ;  (11)  there  is 
none  that  seeketh  earnestly  after  God.  (12)  All  are 
gone  out  of  the  way ;  they  are  together  become  use- 
less ;  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  there  is  not  even 
one.  (13)  An  opened  sepulchre  is  their  throat ;  with 
their  tongues  they  deceived ;  the  poison  of  asps  is 
under  their  lips  ;  (14)  whose  mouth  is  full  of  cursing 
and  bitterness.  (15)  Their  feet  are  swift  to  shed 
blood.      (16)    Kuin    and   wretchedness    are    in    their 


CHAP.  III.  9 — 20.  77 

paths  ;    (17)   and   the  way  of  peace  they  know  not. 

(18)  There   is   no   fear   of   God    before    their   eyes.' 

(19)  Now  we  know  that,  whatsoever  the  law  saith^  it 
speaketh  to  those  under  the  law  ;  so  that  every  mouth 
may  be  stopped,  and  all  the  world  become  amenable 
to  God.  (20)  Inasmuch  as  by  works  of  law  shall  no 
flesh  be  made  righteous  before  Him.  For  by  law  is 
the  full  knowledge  of  sin. 

NOTES. 

99.  V.  9.  what  then?  are  we  preferred ?  The  Apostle  has  now  prepared 
the  way  sufficiently  for  his  purpose,  and  comes  to  assert  boldly  the  entire 
equality,  in  the  sight  of  God,  of  all  mankind.  The  Jew  is  not  preferred 
before  the  Greek  or  Gentile  in  the  righteous  eye  of  Him,  who  is  the 
Father  of  all.  There  is  no  favouritism — no  '  respect  of  persons ' — with 
God.  He  has  already  more  than  once  hinted  at  this  ;  and  we,  looking  at 
his  words  by  the  clear  light  of  Christianity,  can  see  this  plainly  enough. 
His  expressions  in  the  second  chapter,  and  his  replies  just  made  to  the 
Jewish  objector,  involve  this  principle,  which,  however,  he  now  sets  down 
before  them,  for  the  first  time,  in  plain  words.  In  order  to  this,  he  once 
more  brings  forward  the  objector,  and  puts  in  his  mouth  a  direct  question 
upon  the  point  at  issue,  to  which  he  gives  a  distinct  reply.  '  Are  we  pre- 
ferred'— literally  '  being  held  before '  'others?'  'No!  not  at  all.  The 
Jew  will  be  treated  by  the  same  rule  of  judgment  exactly  as  the  Gentile. 
Each  will  be  dealt  with  righteously,  and  will  be  judged  by  the  light  he  has 
had,  according  to  his  works.'  And  this  judgment  will  bi'ing  home  the  holy 
requirements  of  God's  pure  and  perfect  law,  with  condemning  power,  to 
the  heart  and  life  of  every  man.  The  whole  world  will  become  amenable 
at  God's  tribunal,  will  become  under  sentence  to  God,  as,  at  the  very  best, 
imperfect,  erring,  sin-defiled,  creatures,  needing,  all  of  them,  that 
'  righteousness  of  God,'  which  He  Himself  has  revealed  in  His  Gospel 
for  all. 

100.  V.  9.  xoe  have  laid  before  the  charge^  asserted,  stated,  laid  it  down, 
(that  is,  throughout  the  first  two  chapters,  more  or  less  distinctly,  in 
various  expressions).  He  seems  to  say,  '  Do  not  be  startled  at  this  as- 
sertion. You  have  already,  in  fact,  gone  along  with  me,  in  admitting  it. 
At  all  events,  you  have  allowed  me  to  make  it.  Having  so  far  listened  to 
me,  do  not  break  off  suddenly  without  reason  now,  because  I  put  the 
matter  a  little  more  plainly.     Hear  what  your  own  Scriptures  say,  &c. 


78  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

Now  such  words  as  these  surely  describe  a  state  of  life,  which  must  be 
liable  to  God's  judgment.  And  yet  of  whom  is  the  Psalmist  writing  ?  To 
whom  does  the  Law,  (that  is,  the  Jewish  Scriptures  generally,)  address  it- 
self? to  whom  do  these  very  words  refer  ?  Not  surely  to  Gentiles,  but  to 
Jews,  to  those  "  under  the  Law." ' 

101.  V.  10.  there  is  none  righteous,  not  even  one.  The  Psalmist  in  this 
passao-e  is  describing  the  general  depravity  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  in 
terms  very  similar  to  those  of  the  prophet  Elijah  :  'I  only  am  left,  and 
they  seek  my  life.'  And  yet  came  the  answer  of  God  to  him :  '  There  are 
seven  thousand  left  in  Israel,  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal ; ' — 
where  we  may  believe  the  definite  number  is  put  for  an  indefinite  multitude 
of  people,  unknown,  indeed,  to  the  desponding  prophet,  but  known  to 
Him  who  reads  the  hearts  and  searches  the  reins,  and  '  knows  them  that 
are  His,'  the  true  and  faithful  in  every  land,  in  every  age,  under  every 
form  of  religion.  So,  though  the  words  before  us  give  such  a  gloomy  ac- 
count of  the  state  of  things  in  Israel,  we  must  not  suppose  it  to  have  been 
really  so  very  bad  as  the  Psalmist  imagined,  and  his  language  implies.  To 
him  it  seemed  that  he  was  left  almost  alone  on  God's  side.  Yet  even  he 
could  not  have  meant  to  include,  in  his  general  terms,  the  case  of  infants 
and  young  children.  There  were,  doubtless,  thousands  of  humble  souls, 
unknown  to  him,  serving  God  devoutly  according  to  their  light,  in  the  midst 
of  a  naughty  world,  and  of  whom  the  Lord  will  take  account  on  that  day 
when  He  'maketh  up  His  jewels.' 

However,  what  is  here  to  be  expressly  noticed  is  this,  that  to  use  these 
words  as  a  proof  from  Scripture  of  the  universal  depravity  of  man,  is 
simply  to  wrest  them  from  their  true  meaning,  and  to  destroy  the  value  of 
the  extract,  for  the  very  purpose  for  which  the  Apostle  quotes  it, — namely, 
to  show  that  in  their  own  Scripture  there  is  language  actually  used  of 
Israelites,  sons  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  not  '  sinners  of  the  Gentiles,' 
language  so  strong  and  severe,  as  must  surely  be  enough  to  convince  them 
that  the  Psalmist,  at  all  events,  and  the  other  writers  of  the  Sacred  Books, 
did  not  for  a  moment  believe  that  an  Israelite,  merely  as  such,  would  be 
screened  in  any  way  from  the  Divine  judgment. 

The  words  in  vv.  12 — IV  do  not  occur  at  all  in  the  English  Authorised 
Version  of  Psalm  xiv.,  nor,  of  course,  in  the  Hebrew  original.  They  do 
appear,  however,  in  some  MSS.  of  the  LXX.  Version,  and  in  the  Latin  and 
some  other  Versions,  but  have  evidently  been  inserted  at  a  later  date,  be- 
cause of  their  occurring  in  this  passage  of  St.  Paul's  Epistle.  Hence  verse 
3  of  Psalm  xiv.  in  the  LXX.,  at  the  end  of  which  this  insertion  is  made, 
will  be  found  to  be  of  extraordinary  length.  The  whole  passage,  however, 
is  found  in  the  Prayer-Book  Version  of  the  Psalms,  which  is  chiefly  Cover- 


CHAP.  III.  21—26.  79 

dale's,  made  from  the  Latin  and  German.  But  in  the  Bible  the  different 
parts  can  only  be  found  in  detached  passages ;  and  St.  Paul  seems  to  have 
taken  them  as  such,  by  memory,  and,  therefore,  with  more  or  less  of  literal 
exactness,  out  of  the  LXX.  Version,  as  it  then  existed,  of  Pss.  v.  x.  xiv. 
xxxvi.  liii.  cxl.  and  Is.  lix. 

102.  V.  13.  an  opened  sepulchre^  'yawning,  and  therefore  pestilential 
and  corrupt.'      Vaughan. 

103.  V.  19.  it  speaTceth  to  those  under  the  Law ;  that  is,  it  speaks  to 
Israelites,  not  to  the  heathen  ;  it  is  describing  the  abominable  wickedness 
of  the  former,  not  of  the  latter. 

104.  T.  19.  and  all  the  world  became  amenable  to  God :  '  all  the  world,' 
that  is,  not  Gentiles  only,  as  you  are  ready  to  suppose,  but  Jews  as  well 
as  Gentiles. 

105.  V,  20.  5y  law  is  the  full  knowledge  of  sin.  The  most  perfect 
obedience  will  be  full  of  imperfection,  and  fall  infinitely  short  of  the  holy 
requirements  of  God's  perfect  law.  The  more  we  know  of  that  holy  and 
blessed  law,  and  the  more  v/e  learn  to  love  it,  the  more  also  shall  we  be 
made  aware  of  our  own  shortcomings,  the  more  shall  we  be  convinced  of 
sin,  of  our  utter  unworthiness,  on  account  of  any  righteousness  or  good- 
ness of  our  own,  to  stand  before  the  presence  of  our  God.  The  clearer 
knoAvledge,  therefore  of  the  law,  which  the  Jews  possessed,  and  on  which 
they  prided  themselves,  so  far  from  being  a  matter  about  which  they  were 
at  liberty  to  indulge  vain  thoughts  of  self-glorification,  would  have  gen- 
erated, if  that  law  had  been  properly  studied,  the  same  spirit  which  made 
Job  of  old  lay  his  hand  upon  his  mouth,  and  say,  '  I  have  heard  of  Thee 
by  the  hearing  of  the  ear ;  but  now  mine  eye  seeth  Thee :  wherefore  I 
abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes  ; '  or  which  forced  from  Isaiah 
the  words  of  reverential  self-abasement,  '  Woe  is  me  !  for  I  am  undone ; 
because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people 
of  unclean  lips  ;  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of  Hosts.' 

CHAP.  III.  21—26. 
(21)  But  now,  apart  from  law,  the  righteousness 
of  God  has  been  manifested,  being  witnessed  of  by  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets  ;  (22)  I  mean  the  righteousness 
of  God,  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  unto  all  and 
upon  all  them  that  believe.  For  there  is  no  distinc- 
tion. (23)  For  all  sin,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God,  being  made  righteous  freely  through  His  grace, 


80  EPISTLE   TO   THE   EOMAl^S. 

through  the  redemption  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus ; 
(24)  whom  God  set  forth,  a  propitiation  through  faith 
in  His  blood,  unto  the  showing  forth  of  His  righteous- 
ness, with  a  view  to  the  remission  of  bygone  sins  dur- 
ing the  forbearance  of  God, — (26)  for  the  shewing  forth 
of  His  righteousness  in  the  present  season,  to  the  effect 
of  His  being  righteous,  and  making  righteous  him  who 
is  of  the  faith  of  Jesus. 

NOTES. 

106.  V.  21.  the  righteousness  of  God,  that  is,  as  we  have  had  it  all 
along,  the  righteousness  which  God  of  His  own  free  grace  bestows  upon 
man,  that  so  he  may  be  able  to  stand  before  Him  as  a  righteous,  not  an 
accursed,  creature,  and  be  dealt  with,  when  deserving  chastisement,  not  as 
an  outcast,  but  as  a  child. 

107.  V.  21.  Tlie  righteousness  of  God  has  been  manifested.  The 
Apostle  is  here  taking  up  again  the  thread  of  the  passage  in  i.  lY,  which 
he  had  broken  oflf  (note  25)  because  he  felt  that,  before  he  could  expect  a 
Jew  to  take  pleasure  in  hearing  of  a  gift  of  righteousness,  he  must  first 
teach  him  that  he  needed  such  a  gift, — that  he  too,  though  calling  himself 
righteous  par  excellence,  one  of  '  the  righteous  people  that  keepeth  the 
truth,'  was  really  as  much  in  need  of  God's  free  gift,  as  any  one  of  his 
fellow-men.-  Having  digressed  for  a  while  in  order  to  enforce  this,  and 
having  brought  the  matter  to  a  point  in  iii.  20, — '  by  works  of  law  shall 
no  flesh  be  made  righteous  before  God,  for  by  law  is  the  clear  knowledge 
of  sm,'  instead  of  righteousness — he  now  resumes  his  former  position  al- 
most in  the  same  words,  and  proceeds  to  speak  about  this  '  righteousness  of 
God,'  to  which  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  indeed,  '  bore  witness,'  if  they 
had  only  heeded  them,  (either  by  speaking  generally  of  God's  forgiving 
and  restoring  grace  for  the  penitent,  or  by  testifying  beforehand  of  the 
coming  of  Christ,)  but  which  was  now  first  revealed,  and  'manifested' 
unto  men  in  the  Gospel. 

108.  V.  22.  I  mean.  This  is  the  best  English  equivalent  to  express, 
in  its  present  connection,  the  force  of  the  Greek  conjunction  here  used. 

109.  V.  22.  the  righteousness  of  God,  through  faith  in  Jestts  Christ, 
unto  all,  and  upon  all,  them  that  believe.  These  words,  as  before  stated 
(note  25),  are  an  amplification  of  those  in  i.  17,  '  the  righteousness  of  God 
from  faith  unto  faith.'  The  phrase  '  from  faith,'  in  one  passage,  is  expand- 
ed  into  '  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,'  in  the  other,  and  indicates  that  the 


CHAP.  III.  21—26.  81 

righteousness,  which  God  gives  us,  is  not  for  any  works  of  ours,  but  simply 
as  the  result  of  our  taking  Him  at  His  own  gracious  word,  and  believing 
in  His  Love,  declared  to  us  in  Christ  Jesus.  Tlie  phrase  '  unto  faith '  is 
expanded  into  '  unto  all  and  upon  all  them  that  believe,'  by  which  St. 
Paul  desires  to  exhibit  the  extent  and  fretmess  of  the  Divine  Gift.  It 
extends  ^ nnto  aW,^  it  is  bestowed  '  upon  all' — them  that  believe.  (1)  The 
Jew  cannot  claim  it  by  works,  ceremonial  or  moral :  it  is  a  righteousness 
which  is  given  as  '  of  faith,'  '  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus.'  (2)  The  Jew  can- 
not claim  it  by  faith  for  himself  alone,  to  the  exclusion  of  his  Gentile 
brother :  it  is  a  righteousness  which  God  means  to  extend  '  unto  all,'  Jew 
and  Gentile  alike.  (3)  The  Jew  cannot  claim  it  by  faith,  in  common  with 
the  Gentile,  in  such  a  way  as  to  maintain  a  notion  of  his  own  peculiar 
privileges  as  a  child  of  Abraham,  so  as  to  imply  any  favouritism  on  the 
part  of  God.  He  cannot  claim  it  by  faith,  as  his  special  right,  by  virtue 
of  the  ancient  promise  :  while  the  Gentile  may  be  admitted  to  share  it,  but 
only  as  a,  favour,  and  by  a  special  act  of  God's  mercy.  No  !  it  is  a  right- 
eousness which  all  must  receive  as  an  act  of  mere  favour,  but  which  God 
will  bestow  freely  '  upon  all '  them  that  believe.  Thus  every  pretence  of 
privilege  and  favouritism  is  struck  away  from  under  the  feet  of  Jewish 
believers.  The  pure  and  simple  Gospel,  of  the  '  Kindness  and  Love  of 
God  our  Saviour  towards  Man '  as  Man,  is  now  set  clearly  before  their  eyes, 
probably  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Christians  at  Rome. 

110.  V.  23.  for  all  sin,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God.  The 
force  of  the  Greek  Aorist  is  here  again  best  given  by  the  English  Present, 
not  all  '  have  sinned,'  but  all  '  sin,'  by  individual  acts,  in  all  ages,  under 
all  circumstances,  and  '  come  short '  (the  Greek  present),  not  by  individual 
acts,  but  as  their  permanent  condition,  of  the  glory  of  God. 

111.  V.  23.  coyne  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  are  unworthy  to  see  the 
Face  of  God  in  His  Glory,  to  share  the  glorious  inheritance  of  the  saints  in 
light. 

112.  V.  23.  being  made  righteous  freely  through  his  Grace.  As  he 
has  just  said  that  all  sin,  and  all  come  short  of  God's  glory,  so  now  he 
must  mean  that  all  are  made  righteous,  justified,  freely  by  the  Grace  of 
God.  In  former  days  the  Jews  were  all  'made  righteous,'  treated  as 
righteous,  though  many  of  them  individually  were  unfaithful.  They  were 
all  embraced  in  God's  favour,  and  dealt  with  as  children,  not  for  any  works 
of  righteousness  which  they  had  done,  nor  for  any  virtue  they  possessed  in 
themselves  as  descendants  of  Abraham,  but  because  of  God's  free  Grace, 
which  had  called  them  before  others  to  the  knowledge  of  His  Truth,  and 
the  present  enjoyment  of  His  Gift  of  righteousness — a  gift,  however,  which 
was  intended  for  all  mankind,  and  was  actually  in  fact  bestowed  from  the 

4* 


$S  EPISTLE    TO    THE   EOMANS. 

first  upon  them,  though  as  yet  they  knew  it  not,  for  it  was  not  yet  reveal- 
ed to  them.  But  now  it  is  revealed  that  this  gift  of  righteousness  is  meant 
for  all,  that  all  are  being  made  righteous  (the  Greek  Present,  implying  their 
continuing  state  of  righteousness),— all  men  everywhere,  though  many  may 
be  unfaithful,  who  have  heard  the  blessed  tidings,  and  many  more  may  not 
yet  have  heard  them,  and  so  may  have  little  or  no  present  enjoyment  of 
their  Father's  Love. 

The  Apostle's  words  in  this  verse  most  probably  mean  this,  because  he 
afterwards  (vv.  15 — 19)  fuily  and  explicitly  states  it,  namely,  that  the  jus- 
tification here  spoken  of  extends  to  all,  to  those  who  have  never  heard  the 
name  of  Christ,  and  who  cannot  have  exercised  a  living  faith  in  Christ,  as 
well  as  to  Christians.  It  is  certain  that,  in  this  latter  passage,  he  is  speak- 
ing of  the  whole  human  race.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  in  the  passage 
we  are  now  considering,  he  may  not  yet  have  arrived  at  this  full  gener- 
alization of  the  Gospel  Message,  and  that  by  the  words  '  all  sin,'  and  '  all 
come  short  of  God's  Glory,'  he  may  not  have  in  his  mind  all  human  beings 
whatever,  but  merely  '  all  believers,''  in  connection  with  his  preceding  words 
that  this  righteousness  is  '  from  faith  unto  faith,'  '  unto  all  and  upon  all  them 
that  believe.'  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  he  may  be  here  only  speaking 
of  '  all  that  believe '  as  being  still  sinners,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  as  all 
coming  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  and  being  all  justified  by  His  Free  Grace. 
And  if  this  be  so,  then  St.  Paul  does  not  here  speak  of  any  receiving  this 
gift  of  righteousness,  but  only  '  those  who  believe.' 

But  then  also  it  must  be  remembered,  that,  whatever  may  be  the 
Apostle's  exact  meaning  here,  he  does  distinctly,  in  chap,  v.,  mclude  the 
whole  of  mankind  as  recipients  of  God's  grace  in  the  Gospel ;  and  that,  ad- 
mitting the  above  restriction  of  his  meaning  in  the  present  passage,  the 
fact,  that  '  those  that  believe '  receive  the  gift  of  righteousness,  cannot  be 
understood  to  exclude  from  it  all  those  who  do  not  believe  ;  otherwise, 
what  will  be  said  of  infants,  baptized  or  unbaptized  ?  ^Ye  must  also  con- 
sider what  St.  Paul  means  by  constantly  reiterating  the  words  '  of  faith,' 
'  to  faith,'  '  them  that  believe,'  &c.  He  is  fighting  with  all  his  might 
against  the  Jewish  dogma  that  righteousness  is  to  be  obtained  by  ivorks  of 
latv.  It  is  in  opposition  to  this  that  he  lays  such  constant  stress  upon  the 
word  '  faith '  in  his  arguments,  having  in  his  mind  not  infants  and  young 
children,  or  the  multitudes  of  heathen,  who  cannot  believe  in  the  Gospel, 
because  they  have  never  heard  it,  but  adults  who  are  seeking  after  right- 
eousness, and  may  consciously  receive  it  by  faith,  and  enjoy  the  blessed- 
ness of  having  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  even 
in  heathen  men,  who  have  never  heard  the  Gospel,  and  cannot  '  believe ' 
in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  there  is  a  faith  in  the  Living  "Word,  which 


CHAP.  III.  21—26.  8^ 

speaks  within  them ;  there  is  a  living  obedience  to  the  law  of  truth  and  love, 
which  they  find  written  upon  their  hearts  by  the  finger  of  God,  which  is  akin 
to  the  true  living  faith  of  a  Christian,  and  to  which  is  granted  a  kindred  feel- 
ing, a  measure  of  enjoyment,  even  in  this  life,  of  the  gift  of  righteousness,  a 
sense  of  gladness  and  freedom  in  the  consciousness  of  at-one-ment  with  the 
Right  and  the  True,  a  share  of  the  peace  of  God's  children,  '  which  passes 
all  understanding.' 

But,  whatever  may  be  St.  Paul's  exact  meaning  here,  these  words  are 
at  all  events  a  foreshadowing  of  the  full  announcement  which  he  makes  in 
chap,  v.,  namely,  that  the  whole  human  race  are  partakers  of  the  gift  of 
life  in  the  Gospel,  of  the  blessing  of  righteousness,  as  they  are  of  the  '  rain 
from  heaven  and  fruitful  seasons,'  many  of  them, — most  of  them,  indeed^ 
— without  knowing  that  these  daily  mercies,  which  they  partake  of,  are 
signs  to  them  of  their  Father's  Love,  that  tho  beauty  of  nature  is  the  smile 
of  God,  and  that  every  flower  which  grows  beside  their  pathway  speaks  a 
word  of  hope  and  peace  to  them  from  Him,  '  who  is  not  far  fi'om  any  one 
of  them,'  '  in  whom  they  live  and  move  and  have  their  being.' 

113.  V.  23.  through  the  redemption  lohich  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  The 
word  '  redemption '  implies  a  buying  back,  a  ransoming,  as  of  a  captive 
from  slavery.  And  this  is  the  proper  meaning  of  the  Greek  word  thus 
translated.  But  what  is  this  redemption  ?  redemption  from  what '?  What 
is  the  idea  present  to  the  Apostle's  mind  ?  He  does  not  here  unfold  it. 
But  in  chap.  v.  he  speaks  of  Sin,  personifying  it  as  a  horrible  tyrant,  who 
'  reigns  through  death,'  who  has  power  by  nature  to  inflict  death  upon  us 
all;  and  so  in  Heb.  ii.  15,  the  Devil,  as  it  were,  the  concentrated  essence 
of  sin,  is  spoken  of  as  having  the  '  power  of  death.'  The  accursed  bond- 
age in  which  we  should  all  be  held,  by  our  mere  natural  birth,  to  this  tyrant 
Sin,  is,  as  we  shall  see  more  clearly  further  on,  the  bondage  or  slavery 
from  which  our  Lord  has  redeemed  us.  We  are  all  sinful  creatures ;  and 
the  more  we  know  of  God  and  of  His  Holiness,  the  more  too  we  know  of 
sin,  and  the  more  we  must  naturally  dread  death,  as  taking  us  out  of  this 
world  of  things  seen  into  the  awful  eternal  world  for  judgment.  With  this 
knowledge  of  our  sinful  state,  and  without  the  Gospel,  we  should,  indeed, 
be  bound  down  under  a  weight  of  woe,  under  the  consciousness  of  a  heavy 
burden,  hopelessly  aware  of  our  coming  doom,  and  even  now  feeling  it 
beforehand.  Having  thus  the  certainty  of  the  curse  upon  us,  being,  indeed, 
under  it  already,  we  should  have  no  motive  to  strive  with  evil,  we  should 
fall  helplessly  into  the  hands  of  the  Evil  master  as  his  very  bond-slaves ; 
we  can  but  do  his  will  and  perish ;  the  noblest  thought  of  a  man  would  be 
to  '  curse  God  and  die.'  But  Christ  has  come,  sent  by  the  Grace  and  Love 
of  our  Heavenly  Father,  to  redeem  us,  to  buy  us  back  with  a  precious  price 


84  EPISTLE   TO  THE   ROMANS. 

from  this  state,  and  to  set  us  wholly  free  from  the  power  of  evil,  that  Sin 
'  should  no  longer  have  dominion  over  us.'  In  what  way  this  '  redemption' 
is  effected,  will  appear  more  fully  as  we  proceed. 

114.  V.  24.  whom  God  set  forth ^  a  propitiatio7i  through  faith  in  his 
blood.  Dr.  Vaughan  observes  that  the  word  here  translated  '  set  forth,'  in 
the  only  other  passages  in  which  it  occurs  in  the  writings  of  St.  Paul,  and, 
indeed,  in  the  whole  New  Testament  (Rom.  i.  13,  Ephes.  i.  9),  is  used  in 
the  sense  to  propose  to  one's-self,  to  purpose.  Hence,  he  says,  '  here  too 
it  may  refer  to  God's  purpose,  rather  than  to  His  revelation  of  it — whom 
God  set  before  Himself  as,  purposed  to  make,  a  propitiation,  &c.' 

But  without  insisting  upon  this,  and  adhering  to  the  usual  translation 
of  the  passage,  we  may  make  the  following  remarks  upon  it. 

(1)  St.  Paul  here  says  that  '  God  Himself  set  forth,'  exhibited,  '  His 
Son  to  us,'  &c.  This  is  in  exact  accordance  with  what  the  Scriptures  every- 
where teach  us,  that  '  All  things  are  of  God,  who  hath  reconciled  us  to 
Himself  by  Jesus  Christ ; '  though  it  is  a  truth,  which  is  painfully  left  out 
in  so  much  modern  religious  teaching. 

(2)  St.  Paul  says  that  '  God  set  forth  His  Son  to  us  as  a  propitiation,'^ 
that  is  to  say,  as  something  to  make  acceptable,  as  one  through  whom  God 
will  smile  graciously  upon  us  as  our  Father,  notwithstanding  all  our  own 
unfitness.  In  Him  the  Father  was  well  pleased,  and  with  us  in  Him.  In 
His  Holy  obedience  unto  death  was  that  expression  of  perfect  righteous- 
ness exhibited  in  the  life  of  a  Son  of  Man,  which  the  Father  beheld  with  en- 
tire satisfaction,  and  accepting  Him,  whom  He  Himself  had  made  to  be  our 
Head  and  Elder  Brother  and  Representative,  He  graciously  accepted  us  all 
in  Him. 

(3)  St.  Paul  says  that  God  sent  forth  His  Son  to  us  '  as  a  propitiation 
through  faith  in  His  Blood,''  or  '  as  a  propitiation  through  His  Blood,  to 
be  applied  by  faith '  ( Vaughan).  The  general  meaning  of  the  passage  is 
the  same  in  both  translations.  It  is  by  looking  specially  at  the  fact  of  our 
Lord's  Death, — at  the  fact  that  He,  at  His  Father's  bidding,  took  our  nature 
wholly  upon  Him  without  our  sin,  and  in  that  nature,  though  spotless  and 
innocent,  was  given  over  to  share  that  death,  which  we  must  suffer  because 
of  our  sin,  that  so  He  might  be  wholly  one  with  us,  taking  part  with  us  in 
all  the  evils  which  sin  has  brought  upon  us,  except  that  tendency  to  sin 
which  we  all  inherit, — it  is  by  looking  at  the  fact  that  He  was  'made  sin' 
for  us,  was  treated  as  if  He  too  had  sin  in  His  nature,  and,  therefore,  was 
under  necessity  to  die  as  we  are,  though  He  knew  no  sin — it  is  thus  that  we 
have  the  surest  sign  that  our  Father  loves  us,  since  '  He  spared  not  His  own 
dear  Son,  but  freely  gave  Him  up  for  us  all.' 

Let  us  imagine  a  people  separated  from  their  King, — ^not  only  by  their 


CHAP.  iir.  21 — 26.  85 

own  wilful  faults,  but  mainly  through  some  acts  of  their  forefathers — and 
lying  now  in  misery  and  want,  by  reason  of  their  rebellion,  torn  to  pieces 
by  civil  discord,  their  fields  ravaged,  their  homes  desolated,  a  prey  to  fam- 
ine, and  fever,  and  countless  other  forms  of  evil.  And,  meanwhile,  their 
King,  it  may  be,  sits  afar  off  in  his  own  fair  land,  and  their  cry,  they  think, 
can  scarcely  reach  him,  or,  if  it  does,  what  can  they  look  for  at  his  hands 
but  wrath  and  judgment  ?  But  his  thoughts  are  not  as  their  thoughts,  and 
he  longs  to  save  them  from  their  misery  ;  yes,  in  spite  of  all  their  faults, 
he  still  regards  them  as  his  children,  and  would  have  them  believe  that  he 
has  indeed  a  Father's  love  towards  them.  And  how  shall  he  shew  forth 
that  feeling  of  his  heart,  and  convince  those  fear-stricken  wretches  of  its 
reality  ?  What,  if  he  should  send  a  dear-loved  Son,  not  to  visit  them  for  a 
day  or  two,  and  pass  away,  but  to  dwell  with  them,  to  become  as  one  of 
them,  to  come  and  share  their  want  and  misery  and  famine  and  fever — all 
but  their  sin — to  live  and  to  die  with  them  ?  "Would  not  this  be  enough  to 
convince  them  of  the  greatness  and  reality  of  his  desire  for  their  truest  wel- 
fare, and  to  bind  them  down  hereafter  in  loviug  obedience  to  his  will  ?  Can 
we  not  conceive  how  the  Prince,  who  had  thus  become  their  own,  wholly 
identified  with  those  whom  he  had  been  pleased  to  call  his  brethren,  would 
be  regarded  as  their  representative,  and  act  as  their  mediator, — not  to 
screen  his  people  from  the  anger  of  their  King,  but  because  in  his  Son  the 
King  looked  upon  them  all,  because  he  had  given  his  Son  to  live  and  suffer 
and  die  for  them  all,  because  he  was  himself  in  his  Son,  reconciling  his 
fallen  people  to  himself,  not  imputing  their  offences  to  them  ? 

And  so  has  the  King  of  Kings  been  mercifully  dealing  with  us ;  and  so 
does  He  now  look  upon  us  in  His  Son,  whom  He  delivered  even  unto  death 
for  our  offences,  and  raised  again  for  our  justification.  Now  are  we  all  re- 
garded as  in  Him,  whom  God  has  given  to  be  our  Chief  and  Head.  Through 
Him  we  have  free  access  to  our  Heavenly  Father,  being  counted  as  righteous 
for  His  sake,  though  in  ourselves  unrighteous,  having  peace  with  God 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Now  that  our  Lord  has  died,  death  has 
lost  all  its  sting  and  bitterness  for  us.  His  brethren.  We  must  die  now,  as 
before.  But  now  our  death  is  no  longer  a  token  of  the  curse  lying 
heavily  upon  us,  is  no  longer  a  woe  inflicted  on  us  by  the  tyrant,  Sin.  It 
is  now  a  loving  act  of  conformity  to  the  death  of  our  Lord.  He  died,  be- 
cause of  our  sin,  because  we  are  sinners,  because  He  was  sent  to  take  part 
with  us  wholly  in  all  our  misery,  except  our  Sin,  because  we  must  die,  and, 
therefore.  He,  that  He  might  be  wholly  one  with  us,  came  also  to  die.  But 
now  that  He  has  shown  His  brotherhood  with  us  so  completely,  as  to  share, 
though  without  stain  of  Sin,  in  that  sentence  of  death,  which  the  Sin  in  our 
nature  has  brought  upon  us,  the  reason  of  the  '  must '  in  our  case  is  entirely 
changed.    We  would  not  now  be  unlike  our  Lord,  or  refuse  to  go  down 


86  EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

after  Him  into  the  dark  valley,  into  which  he  has  gone  before,  and  through 
which  our  loving  Father  in  His  Wisdom  calls  each  one  of  us  to  pass,  under 
the  guidance  of  our  Head,  that  we  may  enter  into  His  Kingdom  of  Light 
and  Life.  The  curse  is  taken  away.  Our  Father  in  Heaven  smiles  gra- 
ciously upon  us,  as  He  looks  upon  us  in  His  Son,  as  one  in  Him,  as  one 
with  Him,  as  made  wholly  one  with  Him  by  that  crowning  act  of  His  Life 
of  Obedience,  the  shedding  of  His  Blood.  '  His  death  was  the  central  and 
completive  act  of  the  whole  work  of  redemption.  The  death  presupposes 
the  incarnation,  life  of  obedience  and  self-sacrifice,  &c.,  and  is  the  necessary 
prelude  to  the  resurrection,  ascension,  intercession,  &c.  Thus  it  is  at  once 
the  briefest  and  the  most  comprehensive  term  for  the  whole  redeeming 
work  of  Christ '  ( Vcmghan).  Through  that  precious  Blood-shedding,  the 
whole  race  has  been  redeemed  from  the  curse.  It  is  the  bond  of  union  be- 
tween God  and  Man,  the  sign  that  God  loves  us,  loves  the  whole  race,  and 
will  deal  with  them  henceforth,  even  in  His  severest  chastisements,  as 
righteous  creatures,  not  creatures  lying  under  a  curse,  but  creatures  whom 
He  has  reconciled  and  restoi-ed  to  Himself  through  the  Son  of  His  Love. 

(4)  But,  though  all  men  are  thus  redeemed,  and  belong,  not  to  the 
Devil,  but  to  Christ,  and  are  even  now  under  His  care  and  government, 
though  they  may  not  yet  be  blessed  to  know  His  Name,  yet  '  to  us,^  Chris- 
tians, the  Apostle  says,  '  God  set  forth  His  Son,  as  a  propitiation  through 
faith  in  His  Blood.'  We  are  privileged  to  know  the  Great  Mystery  of  God- 
liness, to  know  in  what  way,  through  the  Wisdom  of  God,  we  have  been 
redeemed  from  the  power  of  evil,  to  look  at  Christ  Jesus  through  faith  in 
His  Blood,  and  behold  in  Him  the  propitiation  for  our  sins,  the  object 
which  makes  us,  the  whole  human  race,  of  which  He  is  the  Head,  accept- 
able to  God.  That  blood  is  the  sign  and  seal  of  God's  Love  to  us.  We 
have  only  to  believe  the  witness  which  it  gives  us  that  there  is,  indeed, 
'  Goodwill  towards  men '  in  the  Bosom  of  our  Heavenly  Father.  We  have 
only  to  rest  at  peace  in  the  assurance  that  He  sees  us,  not  as  we  are  in  our- 
selves, in  our  sin  and  deformity,  but  as  we  are  in  Him,  in  whom  we  are 
'  made  righteous.' 

(5)  But,  then,  how  awfully  strong  is  the  necessity  which  is  thus  laid 
upon  us.  Christians,  that  we  defile  not  the  Body,  of  which  Christ  is  the 
Head,  and  we  are  the  members,  by  continuance  in  any  known  sin !  Let 
no  one  dare  to  turn  the  Grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness.  The  very  great- 
ness of  our  Father's  Love  towards  us  makes  deeper  the  sense  of  guilt  and 
misery  in  those,  who  have  once  tasted  its  blessedness,  but  have  wandered 
away  like  the  prodigal,  to  waste  the  substance  of  the  soul  in  riotous  living, 
and  famish  in  the  far-off  land,  where,  though  redeemed  creatures,  and  able 
to  live  and  act  as  freedmen  of  Christ,  they  have  chosen  to  live  as  the 
wretched  slaves  of  sin. 


CHAP.  III.  21 — 26.  87 

115.  V.  24.  unto  the  showing  forth  of  His  righteousness^  &c.  The 
English  Version  is  here  exceedingly  defective  and  obscure.  The  Apostle 
wishes  to  say  that  God  '  set  forth  His  Son '  with  two  ends  in  view,  one 
aimed  at  indirectly,  as  one  result  among  others  to  which  the  act  in  question 
led,  the  other  the  direct  and  special  object /or  which  that  act  was  expressly 
intended.  This  difference  is  expressed  in  the  Greek  by  the  use  of  two 
different  prepositions,  here  rendered  by  to  and  /or,  the  latter  of  them  in- 
volving the  idea  of  throwing  the  mind  or  heart  forward  with  a  strong  will 
or  purpose.  What  he  says,  therefore,  is  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was 
set  forth  (1)  with  an  indirect  object  in  view,  '  unto  the  showing  forth  of 
that  righteousness,'  which  God  gave  to  the  patriarchs,  and  to  the  Jews  gen- 
erally, and  heathen  also,  in  bygone  days,  and  which  He  gives  now,  it  may 
be  added,  to  the  mass  of  human  kind,  who  do  not  yet  know  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus,  'with  a  view  to  the  remission'  or  letting  go,  ('forgiveness'  is 
too  strong  a  word  to  represent  the  Greek  in  this  place,)  of  the  sins  com- 
mitted in  the  days  of  ignorance,  ('  bygone  sins,'  St.  Paul  calls  them,  be- 
cause he  is  thinking  more  of  the  Jews  in  former  days,  than  of  the  Jews  or 
heathen  in  his  own  and  future  days,  to  whom,  however,  the  same  principle 
of  God's  'forbearance'  applies,)  '  in  the  time  of  God's  forbearance,'  when 
He  '  winked  at '  many  things,  which  in  the  clearer  light  of  the  Gospel  stand 
condemned.  But,  he  says,  (2)  God  set  forth  His  Son  also,  with  a  direct 
and  special  object  in  view,  for  the  showing  forth  of  that  righteousness, 
which  He  gives  '  in  the  present  time '  to  all  them  that  believe,  '  so  as  to  be 
both  righteous '  Himself,  (that  is,  true  and  faithful  all  along  to  His  prom- 
ises,) '  and  making  righteous  him  who  is  of  the  faith  of  Jesus.' 

In  other  words,  St.  Paul  says,  the  secret  of  that  righteousness,  which 
was  reckoned  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  which  was  given  to  the 
whole  Jewish  nation  aU  along,  is  now  explained.  It  was  not  on  account 
of  any  special  merit  or  virtue  of  theirs,  as  the  Jews  had  been  supposing. 
It  was  simply  a  gift  of  God's  Mercy,  which  is  meant  for  all  men,  which  is 
actually  given  to  all  men,  and  which  it  is  His  Will  shall  now  be  revealed 
to  all,  who  are  called  to  the  knowledge  of  His  Grace  in  the  Gospel.  God, 
then,  is  shown  to  be  '  righteous,'  true  to  all  His  Promises  made  of  old  to 
the  Patriarchs,  to  whom  He  first  revealed  Himself  more  fully  than  to 
others ;  but  He  fulfils  them  in  the  way  in  which  He  always  meant  to  fulfil 
them,  namely,  by  the  way  of  faith,  in  which  He  first  gave  them  to  Abra- 
ham. He  is  shown  to  be  righteous,  'justified  in  His  words,  and  clear  when 
He  is  judged,'  though  He  grants  no  exclusive  privileges,  though  He  extends 
His  gift  of  righteousness  to  all  mankind,  making  righteous  all,  whether  Jew 
or  Gentile,  '  who  are  of  the  faith  of  Jesus.' 

As  before,  the  fact  that  such  as  these,  who  are  able  consciously  to  be- 


88  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

lieve  in  the  Gospel,  are  justified, — have  the  blessedness  of  knowing  that 
they  are  justified,  and  so  have  peace  with  God, — does  not  exclude  the  case 
of  baptized  or  other  infants,  nor,  in  fact,  the  mass  of  human  kind,  -who  are 
not  yet  privileged  to  know  this,  but  of  whom,  in  chap.  v.  and  in  other  parts 
of  this  epistle,  the  Apostle  distinctly  speaks  as  sharers  in  this  gift  of 
righteousness. 

IIG.  v.  26.  to  the  effect  of  His  being  righteous,  etc.  These  words  are 
often  explained  to  mean  that  God  does  not  treat  lightly  sin  in  His  Universe : 
but,  if  He  reconciles  to  Himself,  out  of  His  boundless  Compassion,  our 
fallen  race,  it  is  by  sending  His  own  dear  Son  to  bear  the  weight  of  woe 
which  we  have  deserved,  to  suffer  in  our  stead,  as  our  substitute,  in  this 
way  to  die  for  us  sinners.  Thus,  it  is  said.  He  vindicates  His  ways,  and  is 
able  to  be  'just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of  him  that  believes  in  Jesus.' 

But  this,  as  already  intimated  in  the  previous  note,  is  not  at  all  the 
Apostle's  meaning  here.  He  is  referring  again  in  these  words  to  the  argu- 
ment which  he  has  been  maintaining  all  along — to  the  point  which  he  has 
left  unsettled — to  the  questions  which  he  left  unanswered  at  the  beginning 
of  the  chapter.  He  is  now,  at  last,  giving  the  reply  to  those  questions. 
'  You  see,  after  all,  God  is  righteous,  He  is  faithful  in  respect  of  His  prom- 
ises made  of  old  to  you  and  your  race.  He  has  now,  by  the  setting  forth 
of  His  Son,  explained  what  His  dealings  of  old  with  you  meant,  how  He 
then  regarded  you  as  righteous,  called  you  righteous — not  for  any  merits 
of  your  own  or  your  forefathers,  but  for  His  own  Mercy's  sake  in  Him,  in 
whom  He  loved  you,  and  not  you  only,  but  all  mankind,  from  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  It  was  in  His  Son,  the  second  Head  of  the  Fam- 
ily of  Man,  in  due  time  to  be  revealed,  that  He  loved  you  then,  and  not 
for  anything  in  your  forefathers.  All  the  righteousness,  which  He  gave  to 
them.  He  gave  through  Him.  All  the  goodness  which  He  saw  in  them.  He 
saw  through  Him,  from  whom  alone  it  came  to  them,  in  whom  it  existed 
pure  and  perfect,  and  undefiled  with  the  consequences  of  the  Fall.  There- 
fore, in  now  also  justifying  through  faith,  and  not  for  works  of  any  kind, 
ceremonial  or  moral,  He  is  only  carrying  out  the  system,  upon  which  He 
has  all  along  been  acting.  There  is  no  fickle  change  in  His  purpose  or 
plan,  as  you  suppose,  which  may  render  Him  liable  to  the  charge  of  un- 
faithfulness. You  have  mistaken  the  meaning  of  the  old  dispensation  en- 
tirely, and  supposed  that  you  were  made  righteous  by  Circumcision  and  the 
keeping  of  the  Law,  when  Circumcision  only  declared  and  ratified,  to  each 
individual  Jew,  the  righteousness  which  God  had  given  him  from  the  first, 
in  the  secret  counsels  of  His  Wisdom  and  Love,  as  a  child  of  man,  and  the 
Law,  if  you  understood  it  rightly,  would  only  condemn  you  utterly,  and 
work  out  wrath  upon  you.     Do  you  now  begin  to  understand  that  God  can 


CHAP.  m.  27—31.  89 

be  righteous,  true  to  His  promises  to  you  and  to  your  father  Abraham,  and 
yet  can  extend  His  gift  of  righteousness  to  others,— that  He  can  judge  an 
unfaithful  Jew  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  open  wide  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  to  all  '  those  that  beheve '  ? 

CHAP.  III.   27—31. 

(27)  Where  is  the  glorying  then  ?  It  was  exclud- 
ed. Through  what  kind  of  law  ?  one  of  works  ?  No, 
but  through  a  law  of  faith.  (28)  We  concludej  then, 
that  by  faith  a  man  is  made  righteous,  apart  from 
works  of  law.  (29)  Is  God  tJie  God  of  the  Jews 
only  ?  Is  He  not  also  of  the  Gentiles  ?  Yes,  of  the 
Gentiles  also.  (30)  If,  at  least,  '  God  is  One,'  who 
will  make  righteous  the  Circumcision  in  consequence 
of  faith,  and  the  Uncircumcision  through  the  faith. 
(31)  Do  we  then  make  void  law  through  the  faith  ? 
Far  from  it ;  rather  we  establish  law. 

NOTES.  "* 

117.  V.  21.  where  is  the  glorying  then?  <jcc,  *In  all  this,  then,  name- 
ly, God's  setting  forth  His  Son  as  a  propitiation,  for  sins  both  of  the  past 
generations  and  the  present,  where  is  there  anything  for  you  to  glory  in  ? 
Where  is  the  ground  of  the  Jew's  pride,  his  self-conceit  of  his  own  impor- 
tance, his  vain  confidence  in  his  own  merits  as  a  son  of  Abraham  ?  The 
'  righteousness '  and  other  blessings,  which  he  has,  are  all  a  free  gift  of 
God's  Love.  And  if  Abraham  and  the  fathers  of  our  nation  were  justified, 
as  no  doubt  they  were,  that  too  was  through  a  law  of  faith,  not  of  works.  * 
Justified,  indeed,  they  were  by  the  grace  of  God,  as  all  others  of  the  human 
race,  even  before  they  v/ere  born.  But  if  they  had  this  declared  to  them, 
if  they  were  privileged  to  know  that  they  were  justified,  and  to  receive  a 
sign  and  seal  of  it  in  circumcision — if  thus  they  had  the  joy  of  peace  with 
God,  and  the  pledge  given  them  by  God  Himself  that  they  were  looked 
upon  and  dealt  with  as  righteous  creatures, — it  was  simply  in  consequence 
of  their  faith,  their  taking  Him  at  His  owti  gracious  word,  not  for  any  vir- 
tue they  had  of  their  own,  not  for  anything  which  they  had  done  to  make 
themselves  righteous ;  and,  in  fact,  in  themselves,  they  were  still  unright- 
eous.    All  glorying  then  was  from  the  first  cut  off,  if  you  had  only  under- 


90  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

stood  God's  dealings  with  yourselves  and  your  fathers.  It  was  '  excluded' 
from  the  first  by  the  '  law  of  faith,'  under  which  both  they  and  you  have 
really  been  partaking  all  along  of  the  mercies  of  God,  and  not,  as  you  sup- 
pose, under  a  '  law  of  works,'  which  could  only  have  condemned  you.  That 
very  Law  of  Moses,  under  which  you  have  been  placed,  if  regarded  merely, 
as  you  regard  it,  as  a  '  law  of  works,'  would  overwhelm  you  with  an  awful 
judgment.  But  that  Law  itself  contains  also  a  '  law  of  faith,'  suited  to  the 
wants  of  sinful  creatures.  It  tells  you  of  the  Mercy  and  Love  of  God,-  as 
well  as  of  His  Holiness  ;  it  provides  pardon  for  the  penitent,  and  means  of 
grace  and  at-one-ment  for  all ;  and  shadows  out  beforehand,  in  a  thousand 
gracious  ways,  the  Gospel  of  Christ.' 

118.  V.  12.  Is  God  (the  God)  of  the  Jews  only?  is  He  not  also  of  the 
Gentiles  ?  Yes,  of  the  Gentiles  also.  '  The  idea  of  this  brotherhood  of  all 
mankind,  the  great  family  on  earth,  implies  that  all  men  have  certain  ties 
with  us,  and  certain  rights  at  our  hands.  The  truest  way,  in  which  we  can 
regard  them,  is  as  they  appear  in  the  sight  of  God,  from  whom  they  can 
never  suffer  wrong,  nor  from  us,  while  we  think  of  them  as  His  creatures 
equally  with  ourselves.  There  is  yet  a  closer  bond  with  them  as  our  breth- 
ren in  the  Gospel.  No  one  can  interpose  impediments  of  rank,  or  fortune, 
or  colour,  or  religious  opinion,  between  those  who  are  one  in  Christ.  Be- 
yond and  above  such -transitory  differences  is  the  work  of  Christ  "making 
all  things  kin."  Moreover,  the  remembrance  of  this  brotherhood  is  a  rest 
to  us  when  "  our  light  is  low,"  and  the  world  and  its  distinctions  are  pass- 
ing from  our  sight,  and  our  thoughts  are  of  the  dark  valley  and  the  solitary 
way.  For  it  leads  us  to  trust  in  God,  not  as  selecting  us,  because  He  had 
a  favour  unto  us,  but  as  infinitely  just  to  all  mankind.  It  links  our  for- 
tunes with  those  of  men  in  general,  and  gives  us  the  same  support  in  refer- 
ence to  our  eternal  destiny,  that  we  receive  from  each  other,  in  a  narrower 
sphere,  in  the  concerns  of  daily  life.  To  think  of  ourselves,  or  our  church, 
or  our  country,  or  our  age,  as  the  particular  exceptions  which  a  Divine 
Mercy  makes,  whether  in  this  life  or  another,  is  not  a  thought  of  comfort, 
but  of  perplexity.  Lastly,  it  relieves  us  from  anxiety  about  the  condition 
of  other  men,  of  friends  departed,  of  those  ignorant  of  the  Gospel,  of  those 
of  a  different  form  of  faith  from  our  own ;  knowing  that  God,  who  has  thus 
far  lifted  up  the  veil,  "  will  justify  the  Circumcision  through  faith,  and  the 
TJncircumcision  by  faith,"  the  Jew,  who  "fulfils  the  law,"  and  the  Gentile, 
"  who  does  by  nature"  the  things  contained  in  the  law.'     Jowett. 

119.  V.  30  '  God  is  One.''  The  Apostle  quotes  here  the  well-known 
formula  of  the  Jewish  law,  '  Hear,  0  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord.' 

120.  V.  30.  ivho  will  make  righteous.  It  should  be  observed  that, 
both  here  and  elsewhere,  when  the  Apostle  says  that  God  'justifies'  any,  or 


CHAP.  Ill,  2T— 31.  91 

*  makes  them  righteous,'  he  means,  that  He  justifies  them  in  their  oivn  con- 
sciences, He  brings  home  to  them  consciously  the  gift  of  righteousness. 
Abraham,  for  instance,  was  righteous  in  God's  sight,  before  it  was  declared 
to  him  that  '  his  faith  was  reckoned  to  him  for  righteousness.  Jewish  Ji 
children  of  old  were  righteous  in  God's  sight,  before  they  were  declared  to 
be  so  in  circumcision ;  and  yet  they  could  exercise  no  faith  at  that  early 
age,  and  many  years  must  have  passed  before  it  could  have  been  said  of 
them  that  they  were  'justified  in  consequence  of  faith.'  So  Christian  chil- 
dren are  signed  and  sealed  in  their  baptism  as  children  of  God  ;  but  years 
may  pass  before  the  sense  of  God's  Love  is  brought  home  to  their  hearts, 
before  they  know  the  blessedness  of  being  '  made  righteous '  by  the  free 
grace  of  God,  before  they  can  be  said  to  be  '  justified  through  the  faith,' 
which,  in  their  infant  years,  they  cannot  have  exercised. 

Hence,  St.  Paul  is  not  speaking  here  at  all  of  young  children,  whether 
Jewish  or  Christian,  or  of  Heathens,  who  have  no  opportunity  of  hearing 
and  receiving  '  the  faith,'  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  Many,  indeed,  of  these  latter, 
walking  faithfully  according  to  their  light,  may  enjoy  some  sense  of  the 
gift  of  righteousness,  may  be  '  consciously  justified,'  may  have  some  meas- 
ure of  peace  within  the  heart,  '  in  consequence  of  faith '  in  the  Right  and 
True  and  Good.  And  ail  of  them,  as  St.  Paul  plainly  teaches  afterwards, 
are  counted  as  righteous  creatures,  though  they  may  not  know  it,  through 
the  Grace  of  God,  bestowed  upon  the  whole  human  race  in  His  own  dear 
Son,  whom  He  has  given  to  be  their  Head,  and  whose  members  they  are. 
And  all  will  be  judged  alike.  Jews,  Christians,  and  Heathens,  by  the  same 
righteous  rule,  according  to  their  works,  and  according  to  the  light  vouch- 
safed to  them,  in  that  day  when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

121.  V.  30.  in  consequence  of  faith  .  .  through  the  faith.  The  Apos- 
tle's expressions  are  noticeable  ;  the  change  of  form  in  them  has  a  mean- 
ing. There  is  but  one  God  for  all,  he  says,  and  He  v/ill  deal  by  the  same 
rule  with  all,  and  not  make  favourites  in  His  judgment  of  men.  He  will  jus- 
tify those  of  the  circumcision,  Jews  of  the  past  and  present,  who  have  lived 
and  died  as  true  children  of  Abraham,  not  having  been  brought  under  the 
higher  influences  of  the  Gospel,  '  in  consequence  of  faith,' — not  in  conse- 
quence of  any  works  of  theirs,  their  birth  from  Abraham,  or  circumcision, 
or  keeping  of  the  law,  but  in  consequence  of  faith  generally,  of  the  living 
principle  which  ruled  their  hearts  and  governed  their  actions,  however  im- 
perfect and  defective  these  may  have  been.  And  the  Uncircumcision,  those 
of  the  heathen,  who  now  and  hereafter  shall  hear  and  receive  the  message 
of  life  in  the  Gospel,  he  will  justify  '  through  the  faith '  in  Christ  Jesus. 

122.  V.  31.  rather^  ive  establish  law — that  is,  law,  generally,  whether 


92  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

that  of  the  Jews,  or  that  written  in  the  consciences  of  men.  'The  faith* 
of  Jesus,  influencing  the  life,  will  bring  forth  that  faithfulness  in  daily  act, 
which  though  at  the  best  very  imperfect,  so  as  not  to  constitute  a  righteous- 
ness in  the  strength  of  which  a  man  could  stand  before  a  Holy  God,  will 
yet  be  far  more  complete  and  all-embracing,  than  any  which  the  law  itself 
could  produce.  '  What  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through 
the  flesh,  God  did  effect  by  sending  His  own  Son,'  to  live  and  die  for  us 
sinners.  Thus  are  we  brought  to  yield  to  God's  Holy  Law  a  cheerful,  wil- 
ling, happy  obedience  for  Love's  sake ;  and  so  the  law  itself  is  established 
and  glorified. 

CHAP.  IV.   1—8. 

(1)  What  then  shall  we  say  that  Abraham,  our 
father,  obtained  after  the  flesh  ?  (2)  For,  if  Abraham 
was  made  righteous  in  consequence  of  works,  he  has 
ground  of  glorying.  But  no  !  not  so  before  God. 
(3)  For  what  says  the  Scripture,  ^  But  Abraham  be- 
lieved God,  and  it  was  reckoned  unto  him  for  right- 
eousness.' (4)  Now  to  one  that  worketh  the  payment 
is  not  reckoned  by  way  of  favour,  but  by  way  of  debt. 
(5)  But  to  one  not  working,  but  believing  on  Him  who 
maketh  righteous  the  ungodly,  his  faith  is  reckoned  for 
righteousness.  (6)  Just  as  David  utters  the  blessing 
on  the  man,  to  whom  God  reckoneth  righteousness 
apart  from  works,  saying,  (7)  '  Blessed  are  they  whose 
iniquities  are  forgiven,  and  whose  sins  are  covered  over. 
(8)   Blessed  is  the  man  to  whom  the  Lord  will  not 

reckon  sin.' 

NOTES. 
123.  V.  1.  What  then  shall  we  say  that  Abraham,  our  father,  d:c. 
The  Apostle  here  puts  the  question  in  a  mild  form  himself,  and  not  in  the 
person  of  a  hostile  and  ill-conditioned  objector.  In  fact,  he  here  identifies 
himself  with  his  brethren—'  our  father,'  what  shall  toe  say  ?  His  argument 
is  this.  '  Suppose  we  drop  for  the  present  the  question  of  the  Jewish  na- 
tion at  large,  and  confine  ourselves  to  him,  to  whom  we  refer  as  our  great 
forefather,  to  whom  first  the  promises  were  given,  and  to  us  in  him.    What 


CHAP.  IV.  1--8.  93 

then  did  Abraham  obtain  by  the  fleshly  ordinance  of  circumcision,  which 
was  enjoined  upon  him  ?  What  was  the  value  of  that  ?  Was  he  not  made 
righteous  by  it,  separated  from  all  others  as  the  favoured  head  of  a  race,  the 
friend  of  God  ?  Does  it  not  seem  that  he,  at  all  events,  was  justified  by 
works  ? ' 

Many  connect  the  words  '  after  the  flesh '  with  '  father,'  translating, 
'  What  shall  we  say  that  Abraham,  our  father  after  the  flesh,  has  gained  ? ' 

124.  V.  2.  for  if  Abraham  was  made  righteous  by  works,  (tc.  St. 
Paul  admits  the  importance  of  the  question,  and  answers  as  if  he  meant  to 
say,  '  It  is  well  to  bring  the  matter  to  a  point,  as  it  were,  with  this  ques- 
tion. For,  if  Abraham  was  made  righteous  in  consequence  of  works  of 
any  kind,  then  he  has,  of  course,  (in  opposition  to  what  I  have  just  been 
saying,)  a  ground  of  glorying,  something  to  trust  to,  and  to  boast  of,  inde- 
pendent of  that  Mercy  of  God,  which  other  men  need.  But,  no  !  he  has 
nothing  of  the  kind  before  God.     For  hear  what  the  Scripture  saith,  &c.' 

The  answer,  in  fact,  is  twofold,  as  he  brings  it  out  in  the  course  of  this 
chapter. 

(1)  Abraham  was  justified,  was  pronounced  by  God  to  be  righteous,  not 
because  of  his  circumcision,  or  his  acts  of  obedience,  his  leaving  his  coun- 
try, or  offering  up  his  son,  but  because  of  his  faith,  because  he  trusted  in 
God,  he  took  God  at  his  word,  he  believed  God's  promise  that  his  seed 
should  be  as  the  stars,  when  as  yet,  in  his  old  age,  he  had  no  son.  He 
shewed  thus  that  the  principle  of  true  faith  ruled  in  his  heart,  which  would, 
on  all  needful  occasions,  exhibit  itself  in  life  and  act. 

(2)  Abraham  was  pronounced  to  be  righteous  before  he  was  circum- 
cised. So  that  his  circumcision,  like  Christian  Baptism,  was  in  fact  a  sign, 
appointed  graciously  by  God  Himself,  to  declare  and  ratify  to  him  the  bless- 
ing already  given,  to  convey  and  make  it  over  to  him,  as  it  were, — as  a 
legal  document  may  convey  formally  a  property,  which  has  long  ago,  in 
point  of  fact,  been  given,  and  possessed  and  enjoyed  by  the  recipient. 

125.  V.  4.  now  to  one  that  worketh,  <kc.  This  is  an  axiom  drawn  from 
the  every  day  transactions  of  common  life.  '  If  Abraham  had  really  worked, 
even  so  far  only  as  to  submit  to  be  circumcised,  on  condition  of  acquiring 
righteousness  thereby,' — (and  every  Jewish  proselyte  was  taught  this  doc- 
trine, that  by  submitting  to  circumcision  and  the  other  Jewish  ordinances, 
and  so  becoming  one  with  the  chosen  people  of  God,  he  would  thus  acquire 
righteousness  in  consequence  of  his  work,) — '  it  must  be  admitted  that  he 
would  have  had  a  right  to  claim  that  righteousness  as  his  due.  But  here 
in  the  Scripture,  you  see,  the  case  is  not  so.  Nothing  whatever  is  said 
about  his  receiving  righteousness  as  the  discharge  of  a  rightful  claim,  the 
payment  of  a  debt ;  but  he  received  it  simply  as  a  free  gift  and  favour,  be- 
cause he  believed  in  God.' 


94  EPISTLE   TO   THE   EOMANS. 

126.  V.  o.  hut  to  one  not  workincf,  &c.  The  English  reader  might 
suppose  that  the  reference  here  is  to  Abraham  expressly  and  singly,  as  if 
the  Apostle  had  said,  '  But  here,  in  this  case  of  Abraham,  to  one  not  work, 
ing,  &c.'  The  Greek  negative  adverb,  however,  here  employed,  would 
forbid  this  interpretation  of  the  passage,  if  we  suppose  it  to  be  strictly 
used.  The  reference  would  then  be  general,  to  amj  siicli^  including,  of 
course,  the  case  of  Abraham, — to  any  one  who,  independently  of  works, 
believes  in  God,  &c.  Nevertheless,  the  former  interpretation  seems  so 
natural,  that  it  is  most  probable  that  St.  Paul  uses  the  negative  here,  as  in 
Hellenistic  Greek,  without  strict  classical  accuracy.  And  of  this  we  have 
other  instances  in  i.  28,  ii.  14,  iv.  19. 

12*7.  V.  6.  Just  as  David  also  speaks  of,  d'c.  'So  David  also  speaks 
very  plainly  of  forgiveness  of  sin  being  free  and  gracious  and  uncondition- 
al.' The  Apostle  evidently  considers  this  forgiveness  of  sin  to  be  identical 
with  justification,  or  pronouncing  to  be  righteous ;  and  having  spoken  of 
the  '  blessedness '  of  receiving  the  one,  he  goes  on  at  once,  in  the  next 
verse,  to  speak  of  the  '  blessedness '  of  receiving  the  other.  In  other  words, 
the  work  of  justification  is  not  completed  once  for  all,  when  we  are  brought 
near  to  God  as  righteous  creatures,  redeemed  and  reconciled  in  the  Son  of 
His  Love.  It  is  going  on  continually,  through  the  Life  of  our  Lord.  In 
Him  God  still  looks  on  us  as  children,  and  sets  us  up  again  as  righteous 
creatures,  notwithstanding  our  numerous  falls.  He  still  receives  us  as 
children,  forgives,  and  blesses  us,  after  each  of  our  sinful  wanderings,  when- 
ever we  return  to  confess  our  fault  before  Him,  and  look  by  living  faith 
unto  Him,  whom  He  Himself  has  set  forth  as  '  the  propitiation  for  our  sins, 
and  not  for  our  sins  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.' 

CHAP.  lY.    9—12. 

(9)  This  blessing,  then,  is  it  upon  the  Circumci- 
sion, or  upon  the  Uncircumcision  also  ?  We  say,  now, 
that  faith  was  reckoned  to  Abraham  for  righteousness. 
(10)  How  then  was  it  reckoned  ?  when  he  was  in  cir- 
cumcision, or  in  uncircumcision  ?  Not  in  circumcision, 
but  in  uncircumcision.  (11)  And  he  received  the  sign 
of  circumcision,  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the  faith 
which  he  had  in  his  uncircumcision  :  so  as  to  be  the 
father  of  all  that  believe  in  a  state  of  uncircumcision, 
that  the  righteousness  may  be  reckoned  to  them  also  ; 


CHAP.  IV.  9 — 12.  95 

(12)  and  the  father  of  circumcision,  to  those  who  are 
not  of  the  circumcision  only,  but  who  also  walk  in  the 
steps  of  the  faith  of  our  father  Abraham,  which  he  had 
in  his  uncircumcision. 

NOTES. 

128.  V.  9.  TJiis  blessing,  then,  &c.  '  These  words  of  blessing,  then, 
which  David  utters, — which  were  meant  for  him,  and  Abraham,  and  all 
devout  Jews,  by  the  free  grace  of  God  remitting  all  their  sins,  and  pro- 
nouncing them  to  be  righteous,  though  in  themselves  unrighteous,— are 
they  confined,  as  by  an  act  of  special  favour,  to  the  circumcised,  so  that 
the  Jew  may  have  reason  to  think  himself  exclusively  entitled  to  them,  or, 
at  all  events,  may  require  the  Gentile  to  accept  circumcision,  and  become 
himself  a  Jew,  before  he  could  partake  of  the  blessedness  ?  Far  from  it. 
Abraham  himself  received  the  announcement  of  his  being  righteous,  while 
yet  uncircumcised ;  and  his  circumcision  was  but  a  sign  and  seal  of  the 
grace  already  bestowed  upon  him,  just  as  Baptism  is  to  a  Christian.' 

'  The  argument  may  seem  slight  to  us ;  it  was  forcible  to  the  Jew.  The 
state,  which  was  odious  and  almost  loathsome  to  him,  was  the  state  in 
which  the  father  of  the  faithful  found  favour  Avith  God.'     Jowett. 

Manifestly,  then,  the  gift  of  God's  righteousness  does  not  depend  on 
circumcision. 

129.  V.  12.  hict  loho  also  loalk,  <&c.  St.  Paul  here  strikes  his  blows 
again  at  the  root  of  the  three  principles  of  Judaism,  by  the  example  of 
Abraham  himself. 

(1)  Righteousness  is  the  free  gift  of  God,  to  be  received  by  faith,  not 
by  works :  for  Abraham's  faith,  not  his  circumcision  or  any  other  work, 
was  counted  to  him  for  righteousness. 

(2)  Righteousness  could  not  be  claimed  by  the  Jews  exclusively  by  rea- 
son of  their  covenant  relations  with  God :  for  Abraham  was  pronounced 
righteous,  not  in  circumcision,  but  in  uncircumcision. 

(3)  Righteousness  could  not  be  received  by  the  Jews  differently  from 
other  men,  by  any  preference  or  partial  judgment.  For  those,  and  those 
alone,  will  be  pronounced  true  children  of  Abraham,  and,  therefore,  heirs 
of  the  promises,  whether  circumcised  or  uncircumcised,  who  walk  in  the 
steps  of  his  faith,  while  yet  uncircumcised. 


»-9 


96  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS.  * 

CHAP.  IV.   13—21. 

(13)  For  not  under  a  state  of  law  was  the  promise 
given  to  Abraham,  or  to  his  seed,  that  he  should  be 
heir  of  the  world,  but  under  a  state  of  righteousness  of 
faith.  (14)  For,  if  those,  who  are  of  law,  be  heirs,  the 
faith  has  been  made  void,  and  the  promise  has  been 
done  away.  (15)  For  the  law  worketh  out  wrath ; 
since,  where  there  is  no  law,  there  is  no  transgression 
either.  (16)  Therefore  it  is  of  faith,  that  so  it  may  be 
by  grace,  so  that  the  promise  might  be  sure  to  all  the 
seed,  not  to  that  of  the  Law  only,  but  also  to  that  of 
the  faith  of  Abraham,  who  is  the  father  of  us  all, — 
(17)  (As  it  is  written,  '  I  have  made  thee  the  father  of 
many  nations,') — in  the  presence  of  Him  whom  he  be- 
lieved, God,  who  quickeneth  the  dead,  and  calleth  things 
not  in  being  as  if  in  being  ;  (18)  who,  beyond  hope, 
believed  in  hope,  so  as  to  become  the  father  of  many 
nations,  according  to  that  which  was  said,  ^  So  shall  thy 
seed  be.'  (19)  And,  not  being  weak  in  faith,  he  regard- 
ed not  his  own  body  now  grown  dead,  being  somewhere 
about  a  hundred  years  old,  and  the  deadness  of  Sarah's 
womb.  (20)  At  God's  promise  he  staggered  not  in  un- 
belief, but  was  strengthened  in  faith,  giving  glory  to 
God,  (21)  and  being  fully  persuaded  that,  what  He 
has  promised,  He  is  able  also  to  perform. 

NOTES. 

130.  V.  13.  not  in  a  state  of  law  was  the  promise  given  to  Abraham. 
The  promises,  Gen.  xv.  Y,  &e.,  upon  which  the  Jews  relied,  as  the  charter 
of  their  greatness,  were  not  given  to  Abraham,  when  he  was  in  a  state  of 
law, — under  the  law  of  circumcision,  or  under  any  such  law  as  that  of 
Moses, — but  when  he  had  the  righteousness  of  faith ;  he  had  simply  trust- 


*   *  CHAP.  IV.  13—21.  97 

ed  in  God,  and,  so  trusting,  had  been  pronounced  to  be  righteous  of  God's 
free  grace.  St.  Paul  here  adopts  the  usual  Jewish  interpretation  of  these 
promises,  which  enlarged  the  meaning  of  the  words  '  this  land,'  *  the  land 
which  thou  seest,'  to  include  the  whole  world.  He  may  have  done  this 
naturally  from  his  own  Jewish  training,  because  accustomed  to  it,  and  be- 
cause it  was  a  notion  so  familiar  to  his  Jewish  readers.  But  he,  doubtless, 
in  his  own  mind  spiritualized  the  promise,  to  mean  that  the  true  seed 
of  Abraham,  all  true  believers,  shall,  like  the  peacemakers,  '  inherit  the 
earth,'  have  the  full,  rich,  enjoyment  of  all  things  in  earth  and  heaven : — 
some  being  able  to  say,  in  the  highest  sense,  '  All  things  are  ours,  for  we 
are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's  ; '  but  all,  in  every  nation,  who  are  walk- 
ing in  the  steps  of  Abraham,  that  is,  who  are  walking  patiently  in  the  path 
of  duty  according  to  the  light  vouchsafed  to  them,  receiving  God's  blessed 
gift,  not  earned  by  their  works,  poor  and  unworthy  at  the  best,  but  be- 
stowed by  His  free  grace — being  made  partakers,  each  in  their  measure, 
of  the  peace  of  God's  children,  which  passes  understanding,  and  which 
they  would  not  exchange  for  all  the  power  and  riches  of  the  world. 

131.  V.  14.  if  those  who  are  of  law  he  heirs,  dec.  If  only  those  are  to 
partake  of  the  blessing,  who  shall  have  first  deserved  it,  by  keeping  the  re- 
quirements of  law,  whether  written  or  not,  there  is  an  end  to  the  promise 
given  to  Abraham,  and  his  faith,  '  the  faith,'  that  was  reckoned  to  him  for 
righteousness,  is  made  void.  For  the  law,  with  its  holy  requirements, 
which  we  are  utterly  unable  to  keep  as  they  ought  to  be  kept,  would  make 
it  hopeless  for  any  man,  and  therefore,  would  have  made  it  hopeless  for 
Abraham  himself,  to  obtain  the  inheritance.  The  promise  made  to  him 
would  have  been  a  mere  mockery,  and  his  faith,  which  had  been  so  com- 
manded, would  after  all  have  been  fruitless  and  void. 

132.  V.  15.  the  law  ivorketh  out  wrath.  Our  own  consciences,  having 
some  sense  of  law,  condemn  us  too  frequently,  working  wrath.  But  '  the 
law,'  the  clearer  and  fuller  revelation  of  God's  holy  will,  '■worheth  out 
wrath' — enlightens  our  eyes,  quickens  our  consciences,  makes  us  more 
deeply  sensible  of  our  utter  inability  to  carry  out  that  perfect  will,  leaves 
us  helplessly  condemned. 

133.  V.  15.  lohere  there  is  no  law,  there  is  no  transgression  either. 
Without  law  of  some  kind,  there  is  no  transgression.  The  essence  of  all 
sin  is  to  break  a  known  law.  Hence,  many  of  the  acts  of  young  children, 
lunatics,  &c.,  though  wrong,  yet  being  done  in  necessary  ignorance  of  a 
law  to  the  contrary,  are  not  transgressions,  are  not  sins.  So,  too,  under 
the  Jewish  dispensation,  many  wrong  things  were  done,  and  permitted — 
sometimes  even,  commanded — in  the  Mosaic  law,  (such  as  the  contracting 
polygamic  man^iages,  concubinage,  divorce,  slavery,  wholesale  butchery  of 


98  EPISTLE   TO   THE   EOIVIANS. 

unoffending  persons  captured  in  war,  a  man's  killing  his  slave,  '  for  he  is 
his  money,'  Ex.  xxi.  21,  &c.,)  which  were  not  transgressions  of  any  known 
law,  and,  therefore,  were  not  sinful  then,  however  now  condemned  by  the 
letter  or  spirit  of  Christianity.  And  so,  too,  among  the  ignorant  heathen, 
many  things  are  practised,  which,  however  offensive  in  the  eyes  of  a  white 
man  and  a  Christian,  are  not  transgressions  of  God's  known  Law,  and  are 
not  reckoned  as  sins  in  the  sight  of  Him,  who  searcheth  the  hearts  and 
judgeth  righteously  the  children  of  men,  until  that  Law  is  brought  home 
to  their  hearts  and  consciences  by  the  teaching  of  His  own  Good  Spirit, 
not  merely  reiterated  in  their  ears,  with  the  voice  of  authority,  by  the  lips 
of  a  Missionary,  laying  down  the  law  to  them,  often  with  most  obscure  and 
defective  utterance,  in  some  difficult  native  tongue,  upon  matters  of  the 
deepest  personal  and  social  interest.  Among  the  reproofs  that  will  be 
passed  '  in  that  day,'  are  there  none  that  will  justly  belong  to  us,  Christians 
and  Missionaries,  for  the  harsh  uncharitable,  judgments  which  we  have 
passed  in  our  arrogant  self-confidence  upon  our  heathen  fellow-men  ? 

134.  V.  16.  therefore  it  is  of  faith,  that  so  it  may  he  by  cjrace,  d;c. 
Therefore  God  has  graciously  willed  it  to  be  of  faith,  as  a  favour,  a  free 
gift  of  His  Love,  that  the  promise  might  be  sure  to  all  the  seed,  not  de- 
pending on  man's  hopeless  endeavours  to  work  out  a  righteousness  for 
himself  '  It '  is  of  faith  :  what  is  ?  The  Apostle  does  not  fill  up  the  sense. 
We  may  supply  '  the  inheritance,'  or  '  the  promise,'  or  '  the  whole,'  or, 
better  still,  perhaps,  *  the  righteousness,'  of  which  he  has  been  speaking  all 
along,  and  to  which  he  has  just  made  a  fresh  reference  in  v.  13. 

135.  V.  lY.  as  it  is  written,  &c.  This  is  an  adaptation  of  Gen.  xvii.  5 
to  St.  Paul's  present  purpose.  Or,  rather,  he  spiritualises  the  expression, 
'  many  nations,'  which  in  the  original  promise  referred  to  the  various 
tribes,  that  sprung  literally  from  the  loins  of  Abi"aham,  in  descent  from 
Isaac,  Ishmael,  and  his  other  sons. 

136.  V.  lY.  in  the  presence  of  Him,  etc.  The  Patriarch,  Abraham, 
stands  at  this  moment  as  the  father  and  type  of  all  believing  souls,  in  every 
age,  past,  present,  or  to  come,  under  all  circumstances,  in  the  sight  of  that 
God,  who  looks  upon  the  future  as  present,  and  when  He  says,  '  I  have 
made  thee,  &c.,'  already  has  called  into  being,  as  it  were,  before  Him, 
'  things  which  are  not.' 

137.  V.  17.  quickeneth  the  dead.  The  reference  appears  to  be  to  the 
quickening  both  of  Abraham,  '  already  dead,'  and  of  Sarah's  womb. 

138.  V.  18.  beyond  hope,  that  is,  beyond  all  hope. 


CHAP.  i\\  22—25.  99 

CHAP.  lY.   22—25. 

(22)  Wherefore  also  it  was  'reckoned  to  him  for 
righteousness.'  (23)  But  it  was  not  written  with  a  view 
to  him  alone,  that  it  was  reckoned  to  him,  (24)  but  with 
a  view  to  us  also,  to  whom  it  is  to  be  reckoned,  who 
believe  on  Him  who  raised  Jesus  our  Lord  from  the 
dead,  (25)  who  was  delivered  with  a  view  to  our  faults, 
and  raised  with  a  view  to  our  justifying. 

NOTES. 

139.  V.  22.  reckoned  to  him  for  righteousness.  The  quotation  is  from 
Gen.  XV.  4. 

140.  V.  24.  who  raised  up  Jesns  our  Lord  fro7n  the  dead.  Let  it  be 
noted  that  the  Scriptures  do  not  speak  of  our  Lord  rising  by  His  own  in- 
herent power  from  the  grave,  of  His  exerting  His  own  Divine  Might  to 
break  the  bars  of  death  asunder.  The  language  of  the  Bible  is  again  and 
again,  as  here,  '  God  raised  Him  from  the  dead.'  Thus  '  He  was  raised  by 
the  glory  of  the  Father,'  Rom.  vi.  4,  '  Him  God  hath  raised  up,'  Acts  ii.  24, 
*  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up,'  Acts  ii.  32,  '  whom  God  hath  raised  from 
the  dead,'  Acts  iii.  15,  '  God,  having  raised  up  His  Son  Jesus,'  Acts  iii.  26, 
'  God  that  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  and  gave  Him  glory,'  1  Peter  i.  21. 
This  is  our  consolation,  to  know  that  He,  the  Son  of  Man,  went  down  to 
the  grave,  as  we  must  do,  trusting  in  God,  and  God  did  deliver  Him — Him, 
our  great  Head  and  Chief,  our  Elder  Brother.  This  is  our  great  comfort, 
the  very  ground  of  our  hope,  to  know  that  a  Man  in  our  nature,  a  perfect 
Man,  a  pure,  loving,  and  true-hearted  Man,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  granted  to  Him  freely,  without  stint  or  measure,  according  to  the 
greatness  of  the  work  for  which  He  was  sent  into  the  world, — (and  that 
same  gracious  help  will  be  granted  as  freely  to  us,  in  our  measure  also,  as 
we  need  it,  in  proportion  to  the  work  which  God  calls  each  one  of  us  also 
to  do  for  Him  in  the  world,) — was  enabled  to  persevere  to  the  end,  trust- 
ing in  God,  as  any  one  of  us  must  do,  and  thereby  says  the  Apostle  (Heb. 
ii.  13)  giving  the  plainest  sign  of  His  perfect  oneness  of  brotherhood  with 
us ;  to  know  that,  at  last,  through  the  same  Eternal  Spirit  helping  Him, 
He  gave  up,  in  obedient  faith,  the  mortal  life,  which  He  had  taken  for  our 
sakes,  in  obedience  to  His  Father's  Will,  commending  His  Spirit  into  the 
gracious  Hands  of  Him  who  loved  Him,  with  the  cry,  '  It  is  finished  ! '  and 


100  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

then,  further,  to  know  that,  by  raising  Him  thus  from  the  dead,  God  has 
declared  by  a  mighty  sign  to  us  all,  that  the  work  of  our  redemption  is, 
indeed,  completed,  that  as  He  had  died  with  reference  to  our  sins,  so  now 
He  has  been  raised  with  reference  to  our  justification. 

141.  V.  25.  who  was  delivered^  that  is,  not  merely  to  the  suffering  of 
death,  but  to  the  whole  work  of  humiliation,  which  culminated  in  His 
Death,  reaching  from  the  hour  of  His  Conception  to  that  of  His  Res- 
urrection. 

142.  y.  25.  who  was  delivered  with  a  view  to  our  faults.  The  ex- 
pression '■for  our  sins,'  in  the  English  Version  is  very  ambiguous,  and 
allows  all  kinds  of  conjectures  to  be  made  by  the  English  reader,  as  to  the 
way  in  which  our  Blessed  Lord  may  be  said  to  have  been  '  delivered  for 
our  sins,'  or  '  rather  for  our  faults.'  For,  let  it  be  observed  that  the  Greek 
word  here  used  is  a  very  mild  one  to  express  '  sins : '  in  Liddell  and  Scotfs 
Lexicon^  the  meaning  of  the  singular  noun  is  given,  '  a  falling  beside,  a 
false  step,  blunder.'  It  expresses,  therefore,  all  the  slips  and  errors,  in- 
tentional or  otherwise,  those  arising  from  infirmity  and  ignorance,  as  well 
as  from  wilful  transgression,  which  the  whole  human  race  can  commit. 
'  With  a  view  to '  these,  our  Lord  was  delivered.  The  Greek  expression  is 
precisely  the  same  in  the  two  clauses  of  the  verse — '  He  was  delivered 
loith  a  view  to  our  faults ;  He  was  raised  ivith  a  view  to  our  justifying.' 
Whatever,  therefore,  may  be  said  in  other  passages,  yet  from  this  now  be- 
fore us,  (however  naturally  it  might  be  drawn  from  the  EngUsh  Version,) 
no  inference  can  be  drawn  that  our  blessed  Lord  was  delivered  for  our 
sins,  in  the  sense  of  bearing  the  burden  of  them,  suffering  the  punishment 
due  to  them,  &c.,  any  more  than  it  can  be  inferred  that  He  was  raised  for 
our  justification,  in  the  sense  of  bearing  the  burden  of  it,  &c.  In  fact,  the 
Greek  preposition  here  used  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  which  is  used  in 
V.  23,  24,  and  used  similar  with  an  accusative, — '  it  was  not  written  with  a 
view  to  him  alone,  ....  but  vnth  a  view  to  us  also.'  In  what  sense  our 
Lord  was  delivered  specially  with  a  view  to  our  sins,  the  Apostle  does  not 
here  stop  to  unfold.     We  shall  find  this  fully  stated  further  on. 

143.  V.  25.  raised  with  a  view  to  our  justifying^  that  is,  the  justifica- 
tion of  us,  our  being  justified.  By  thus  raising  our  Lord  from  the  death, 
our  Heavenly  Father  gave  us  a  sign  that  the  at-one-ment  or  reconciliation 
was  completed,  that  our  Head  was  accepted  as  having  finished  the  work 
which  His  Father  had  given  Him  to  do,  and  in  Him  we  too  are  accepted. 
His  words  are  still  Hmited,  indeed,  to  those  who  consciously  believe.  But 
in  the  next  chapter  he  goes  on  to  extend  the  boundless  grace,  manifested 
in  the  Gospel,  to  the  whole  human  race. 


CHAP.    V.    1—11.  101 

CHAP.  V.   1—11. 

(1)  Made  rigliteous  then  out  of  faith,  we  have  peace 
with  Grod  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  (2)  by  whom 
also  we  have  had  the  access  through  faith  into  this  grace 
in  which  we  stand,  and  glory  in  hope  of  the  glory  of 
God.  (3)  And  not  only  so,  but  we  glory  also  in  our 
tribulations,  knowing  that  tribulation  worketh  out  en- 
durance, (4)  and  endurance  experience,  and  experience 
hope  ;  (5)  and  hope  maketh  not  ashamed,  because  the 
Love  of  God  has  been  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  which  was  given  us.  (6)  For,  while  we 
were  yet  weak,  Christ  at  the  due  time  died  on  behalf 
of  the  ungodly.  (7)  For  hardly  on  behalf  of  a  right- 
eous man  will  one  die  ;  liardly,  I  say,  for,  perhaps,  on 
behalf  of  the  good  man  one  is  ready  to  die.  (8)  But 
God  establishes  His  love  to  us,  in  that,  while  we  were 
yet  sinners,  Christ  died  on  our  behalf.  (9)  Much  more 
then,  being  made  righteous  now  through  His  Blood, 
shall  we  be  saved  through  Him  from  the  wrath. 
(10)  For  if,  being  enemies,  we  were  at-oned  to  God  by 
the  Death  of  His  Son,  much  more  having  been  at-oned, 
shall  we  be  saved  through  His  Life  ;  (11)  and  nut  only 
so,  but  also  glorying  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  through  whom  we  have  now  received  the  at-one- 
ment. 

NOTES. 

144.  V.  1.  made  righteous  then  out  of  faith.  Made  righteous,  pro- 
nounced to  be  righteous,  out  of  faith,  not  out  of  works — of  God's  free 
grace,  not  for  any  claims  of  birth,  not  for  our  own  deservings  in  any  way 
— we  have  peace  with  God,  we  are  assured  of  His  favour  to  us,  we  know 
that  He  loves  us,  that  He  Himself  is  our  Father  and  Friend. 


102  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

Note  well  that  the  idea  which  the  Apostle  connects  inseparably  with 
the  use  of  this  word  '  faith,'  and  has  principally  before  his  own.  mind  at  all 
times,  is  not  so  much  that  of  the  believer's  subjective  activity  in  laying- 
hold  consciously  of  the  promises,  as  that  of  the  objective  existence  of  those 
promises,  as  the  free  gift  of  God's  grace,  to  be  received  simply  as  such, 
not  claimed  as  a  due,  in  consequence  of  birth  or  of  works.  So  in  the 
wilderness  it  might  have  been  said  of  the  great  body  of  the  Israelites, 
'  Saved  then  by  merely  looking  at  the  brazen  serpent,  not  by  any  long  and 
doubtful  medical  process,' — where  the  main  thing  intended  to  be  marked 
is  not  so  much  the  act  of  him  who  looks,  as  if  that  had  any  worth  in  it, 
but  the  act  of  grace  which  gave  him  such  a  simple  means  of  recovery.  It 
is  necessary  to  note  this,  because  the  Apostle's  words  might  be  understood 
to  mean  that  none  are  justified,  except  they  have  conscious  faith  in  God's 
promises  in  Christ  Jesus, — by  which,  in  fact,  the  justification  is  made  after 
all  an  afiair  of  'works.'  But,  of  course,  the  Apostle  beUeved,  at  all 
events,  that  young  baptized  children  were  justified,  though  they  cannot 
have  faith.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  he  is  speaking  in  this  passage  only 
of  adult  Christians, — of  the  access  they  have  had  into  the  actual  reahsation 
and  enjoyment  of  the  state  of  grace  in  which  they  stand,  (and  not  they 
only,  but  the  whole  human  race,  though  as  yet  the  mass  of  mankind  do 
not  realise  and  enjoy  it,)  of  their  comfort  and  peace  in  the  midst  of  their 
tribulations, — of  their  sense  of  God's  Love,  shed  abroad  in  their  hearts  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  as  they  come  more  and  more  to  know  Him, — of  their  joy  in 
God  Himself,  when  consciously  recognised  as  their  reconciled,  or  rather, 
reconciling.  Father  and  Friend.  In  the  latter  part  of  this  chapter,  how- 
ever, St.  Paul  extends  the  gift  of  righteousness  through  Christ  Jesus  to 
the  whole  human  race. 

145.  V.  2.  by  whom  also  we  have  had  the  access  by  faith,  &c.  The 
Apostle  distinguishes  throughout  two  parts  of  our  Blessed  Lord's  work,  the 
one  completed  in  the  culminating  act  of  His  Death,  the  other  commenced 
at  His  Kesurrection,  and  carried  on  now  by  His  Life — the  one  having 
reference  to  our  sins,  the  other  to  our  justification.  So  here,  by  the  whole 
work  of  our  Lord  upon  earth,  summed  up  in  His  Death,  '  we  have  had 
access,' — still  '  by  faith,'  that  is,  by  trusting  in  God's  Goodness,  not  in 
any  deserts  of  our  own — '  into  this  state  of  grace,'  of  at-one-ment  or  re- 
conciliation, '  in  which  we  stand  ;'  by  this  God  declared  to  us  that,  though 
in  ourselves  '  weak,'  '  sinners,'  '  enemies,'  He  yet  regards  us  as  His 
children,  having  sent  His  own  dear  Son  to  take  our  nature,  to  become  a 
true  Brother  of  our  race,  and,  as  such,  to  share  our  woes  to  the  uttermost, 
even  that  which  we  should  otherwise,  as  sinners,  have  reason  to  dread 
with  utter  horror,  the  bitter  woe  of  death ;  by  this  He  has  at-oned,  recon- 


CHAP.   V.  1—11.  103 

ciled,  brought  us  near,  to  Himself.  And  now,  being  thus  rought  near, 
we  are  kept  near.  We  have  peace  maintained  with  God,  notwithstanding 
our  daily  faults  and  falls,  by  the  life  which  our  Brother-Man,  our  Head 
and  King,  now  lives  for  us.  Because  He  has  been  raised  from  the  dead, 
and  God  has  set  Him  at  His  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places,  ever 
to  appear  in  His  Presence  for  us,  we  know  that  we  are  still  justified,  that 
we  are  still  recognised  as  God's  children,  that  our  Father  indeed  loves  us, 
having  given  us  into  His  dear  Son's  Hand  for  time  and  for  eternity.  We 
know  that  our  hope  of  maintaining  that  freedom  of  access,  which  our 
Lord's  work  on  earth  was  God's  appointed  means  of  assuring  to  us,  is  thus 
secured,  by  the  gracious  provision  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  from  all  fear 
of  being  cut  ofiF,  by  reason  of  our  deficiency  of  works.  It  does  not  depend 
on  them  or  on  us — on  our  frames  or  feelings,  doings  or  deserts, — but  on 
Fatherly  Love  of  God  toward  us. 

In  one  word,  we  have  a  peace  akin  to  that,  which  the  children  of  a 
loving  earthly  parent  may  have  in  the  sense  of  their  security.  They  may, 
indeed,  do  wrong — they  may  turn  to  be  disobedient  or  prodigal.  But  they 
are  still  objects  of  his  tender  regard.  If  chastened  and  corrected,  they 
will  be  dealt  with  as  children,  not  outcasts.  If  even  lost  to  their  home 
for  a  season  or  altogether,  it  will  be  a  thing  to  break  their  parent's  heart, 
not  satiate  his  anger.  The  pain,  which  such  a  father  would  feel  at  the  loss 
of  his  child,  will  abundantly  justify  his  loving  embrace,  when  he  goes  out 
to  meet  the  returning  penitent,  and  falls  upon  his  neck  and  kisses  him. 
He  can  thus  pour  out  upon  him  a  free  and  full  forgiveness,  which  in  his 
heart  he  had  ready  from  the  first,  without  any  stain  being  left  upon  his 
character,  for  not  dealing  justly  with  his  other  children.  But  they,  the 
dutiful  and  loving  children  of  the  family,  will  enjoy  a  settled  peace  in  the 
assurance  of  their  father's  love,  a  peace  which  comes  from  a  simple,  child- 
like, trustful  dependence — in  other  words,  from  faith — not  from  any  thing 
they  have  done  to  draw  it  forth  or  deserve  it.  The  difference  between 
this  imaginary  case  and  ours  is  that  we  have  first  to  be  assured  that  God  is 
our  Father,  that  He  does  love  us,  fallen  and  sinful  creatures  as  We  are, 
most  truly  and  tenderly.  And  though,  it  is  true,  a  thousand  gentle  signs 
in  nature  indicate  this, — '  the  rain  from  heaven  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling 
our  hearts  with  food  and  gladness,' — the  flower  by  the  wayside,  the  beauty 
which  covers  the  earth,  the  sea,  and  the  sky,  and  which  our  eyes  are  made 
to  behold,  and  our  hearts  to  enjoy — yet  the  reassuring  and  convincing 
proof  of  it,  amidst  all  life's  changes  and  chances,  and,  above  all,  under 
the  ever-deepening  sense  of  His  perfect  holiness  and  our  utter  unworthi- 
ness,  is  the  great  Sacrifice  of  Love,  which  He  Himself  has  provided  for  us, 
and  of  which  the  Apostle  will  speak  more  freely  presently. 


104:  EPISTLE   TO   THE    ROMANS. 

146.  V.  2.  and  glory  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God.  '  Reconciled  and 
at  peace  with  God,  and  assured  of  the  permanency  of  this  at-one-ment, 
we  too  can  now  glory,  not  as  the  Jew  glories,  with  a  self-conlident,  mis- 
taken notion  of  his  right  to  claim  a  share  in  God's  Kingdom,  from  some 
supposed  merit  in  himself,  or  his  forefathers,  but  with  a  humble,  yet  as- 
sured trust,  in  our  Father's  Goodness.  We  can  triumph  in  the  hope  of 
the  o-lory  of  God,  a  glory  this,  such  as  '  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  car  heard, 
nor  man's  heart  conceived,  but  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  Him.' 

14*7.  V.  3.  we  glory  in  our  trihidations  also.  '  Yes,  and  our  very 
tribulations,  (the  pronoun  here  expressing  the  Greek  article,  and  implying 
the  certainty  that  we  shall  have  such  tribulations,)  so  far  from  being  signs 
that  our  Father  does  not  love  or  care  for  us,  are  the  very  things  which 
bring  home  the  sense  and  assurance  of  His  Love  more  completely  to  our 
hearts.  For  '  tribulation  worketh  endurance,'  as  practice  forms  the  ath- 
lete, hardships  in  the  field  the  soldier,  ocean-buffetings  the  mariner,  each, 
after  being  exercised,  being  now  able  to  endure  more  steadily,  having  ac- 
quired the  habit  of  endurance,  not  being  now  ready  to  quail  and  faint  at 
the  first  sign  of  danger  and  difficulty.  And  '  endurance  works  experience,' 
trial,  proof  of  our  faith,  of  its  real  power  to  sustain  us  in  the  time  of  our 
need.  And  this  '  experience  works  in  us  hope,'  a  firm  trust  that  we  shall 
be  sustained  even  to  the  end,  whatever  calls  of  duty  may  be  made  upon  us, 
whatever  greater  trials  may  await  us  than  any  we  have  yet  encountered. 
And  this  '  hope  doth  not  shame  us,'  put  us  to  the  blush,  before  ourselves 
or  before  the  world,  by  failing  us,  and  disappointing  us,  in  our  season  of 
extremity.  Why  ?  How  do  we  know  this  ?  Why  are  we  sure  of  it,  so 
as  to  assert  it  confidently,  not  merely  of  time  past,  but  of  all  times,  of  the 
permanent  state  of  our  spirit's  life  ?  Because  we  are  sure  of  God's  love  to 
us,  which  will  not  fail  us ;  because  that  Love,  the  sense  and  assurance  of 
it,  has  been  '  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Spirit  which  was 
given  to  us.' 

148.  V.  6.  for^  while  tee  were  yet  weak,  Christ  at  the  due  time  died  on 
behalf  of  the  ungodly.  For  here  is  the  plam  convincing  evidence  of  the 
wondrous  Love,  with  which  our  faithful  Creator  has  loved  us,  that  He 
gave  His  Son  for  us,  not  as  good,  and  loving,  obedient  creatures,  but  as 
sinners.  As  St.  John  also  writes,  '  Herein  is  Love,  not  that  we  loved  God, 
but  that  God  loved  us,  and  sent  His  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins.'  '  The  point  of  these  words  is  not  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners, 
Christ  died  for  us,  but  rather  that  the  Love  of  God  (in  sending  Him), 
like  that  of  a  parent  to  a  child,  was  called  forth  by  our  helplessness.* 
Jowett. 


CHAP.  V.   1 — 11.  105 

149.  V.  6.  at  the  due  time^  at  God's  appointed  time,  '  in  the  fulness  of 
time.' 

150.  V.  6.  on  behalf  of  .  Once  for  all  let  it  be  stated  distinctly,  thei-e 
is  not  a  single  passage  in  the  whole  of  the  Xew  Testament,  which  supports 
the  dogma  of  modern  theology,  that  our  Lord  died  for  our  sins,  in  the  sense 
of  dying  instead  o/us,  dying  in  our  p/ace,  or  dying  so  as  to  bear  the  pu7dsh- 
vient  or  penalty  of  our  sins.  It  is  often  said  that  He  died  for  ics,  He  died 
for  our  sins ;  but  the  Greek  preposition,  here  rendered  by  'for,'  never,  in 
any  single  instance,  means  '  in  our  stead,'  but  '  on  our  behalf,'  as  in  tins 
passage.  The  distinction  is  well  shown  in  the  following  passage  from 
Xenophon's  Anabasis,  vii.  9,  10.  '  So  Seuthes  inquired,  '  What,  would 
you  be  willing,  Episthenes,  to  die  {hyper)  on  behalf  of  this  youth  ? '  And 
he,  having  stretched  out  his  neck,  said,  '  Strike,  if  the  youth  bids  it,  and 
will  feel  obliged.'  Seuthes  went  on  to  ask  the  youth,  '  if  he  should  strike 
him  {a7iti)  instead  of  him.' 

In  the  above  extract,  the  first  question  is  merely  whether  Episthenes 
would  be  wilhng  to  lay  down  his  life  in  any  way  on  behalf  of  the  boy,  not 
to  die  in  his  place.  The  use  of  the  former  preposition  does  not  exclude  the 
idea  of  the  latter,  but  does  not  necessarily  include  it.  In  fact  Episthenes 
might  have  died  in  battle  on  behalf  of  the  youth,  and  yet  the  youth  be 
killed  after  all.  If,  therefore,  in  any  other  parts  of  Scripture,  it  were  laid 
down  distinctly  that  our  Lord  died  in  our  stead,  the  '  for '  in  such  express- 
ions as  that  now  before  us  would  have  to  be  interpreted  accordingly.  But 
the  fact  is  that  there  is  no  such  statement  in  the  whole  of  Scripture.  The 
common  modern  dogma  has  probably  arisen  from  following  the  English 
Version  without  due  attention  to  the  Greek  original. 

The  real  meaning  of  the  expression  '  He  died  for  us,'  or  '  He  died  for 
our  sins,'  is  this,  '  He  died  on  our  behalf,'  '  He  died  for  our  sakes,'  '  He  died 
to  help  us  in  respect  to  our  sins.'  Just  so,  we  have  St.  Peter  saying,  John 
xiii.  IV,  '  I  will  lay  down  my  life  for  thee,'  for  thy  sake,  on  thy  behalf,  in 
thy  defence ;  and  so  St.  Paul  says,  Rom.  xvi.  4,  '  they  laid  down  their 
necks /or  my  life,'  in  defence  of  my  life,  on  my  behalf 

And  the  truth  is  that  our  Blessed  Lord  certainly,  whatever  he  did,  did 
not  '' die  in  our  stead.^  If  it  be  spiritual  death,  which  is  meant,  as  the 
doom  of  our  sins,  we  know  that  He  did  not  die  spiritually  at  all,  and, 
therefore,  did  not  die  in  our  stead.  If  it  be  physical  death  which  is  meant, 
He  did  die  that  death  for  our  sakes,  but  not  in  our  stead,  for  we  must  all 
die  that  death  still. 

151.  V.  7.  a  righteous  man  ....  the  good  man.  There  seems  to  be  a 
distinction  of  meaning  intended  in  the  use  of  the  two  Greek  words,  trans- 
lated here  by  '  righteous '  and  '  good.'    The  '  good '  man,  the  brave  and 

5* 


106  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

good,  indicates  a  nobler  character,  more  likely  to  win  esteem  and  warm 
affection,  than  the  '  righteous,'— the  merely  upright  and  just. 

152.  Y.  8.  But  God  establishes  His  Love  to  tis.  Let  this  be  noted:  it 
is  God  Himself,  who  establishes,  makes  sure.  His  Love  to  us,  in  giving  up 
His  own  dear  Son  for  us.     '  All  things  are  of  God.' 

153.  V.  9.  much  more,  then,  being  justified  now  through  His  Blood, 
shall  we  be  saved  through  Him  from  the  wrath, — that  is,  from  the  wrath  of 
which  he  has  been  speaking  all  along,  as  declared  not  in  the  law  only,  but 
in  our  own  consciences,  against  all  acts  of  our  lives  which  have  been  con- 
sciously evil,  as,  the  best  must  confess  with  shame,  too  many  of  theirs  have 
been. 

154.  T.  9.  through  Him,  that  is,  through  His  Life,  now  that  He  has 
been  raised  from  the  dead,  and  ever  lives  to  act  as  our  Head  and  King,  and 
make  intercession  for  us  at  God's  right  hand. 

The  Apostle  brings  out  again  distinctly  the  two  parts  of  our  Lord's 
work.  (1)  We  'have  access,'  are  brought  near,  reconciled,  at-oned,  justi- 
fied, pronounced  righteous,  through  His  Blood,  in  which  expression  is 
summed  up  His  whole  life  of  humiliation  on  earth,  from  the  womb  to  the 
grave.  (2)  We  shall  be  saved  through  His  Life,  His  ever  living  to  appear 
in  the  presence  of  God  for  us,  from  that  wrath,  which  (i.  18)  is  revealed 
from  God  upon  all  wilful  evil,  and  which,  our  consciences  tell  us,  as  well 
as  the  Bible,  is  deserved  by  each  fresh  act  of  sin  we  daily  commit,  sin  not 
of  mere  ignorance  and  infirmity,  but  sin  committed,  as  alas !  we  all  do 
commit  it,  against  the  Light,  and  our  better  knowledge  of  the  pure  and 
holy  will  of  God.  We  shall  be  saved,  daily  and  hourly,  from  that  wrath, 
by  having  our  faults  freely  pardoned  for  His  sake,  when  confessed  and  re- 
pented of,  '  our  unrighteousness  forgiven  and  our  sins  covered.'  Frail  and 
faulty  as  we  are,  we  shall  still  be  looked  upon  and  dealt  with  as  children 
in  Him  our  living  Head.  His  perfect  obedience  is  that  which  God  looks 
at,  and  in  Him  is  He  well-pleased,  and  with  us  in  Him.  Our  Heavenly 
Father  has  given  us  all,  as  younger  children  of  the  House,  into  the  hands 
of  our  Elder  Brother,  who,  by  His  own  course  of  submission  and  self-sacri- 
ficing love,  will  instruct  and  guide  us ;  and  He  will  keep  us  to  the  end, 
teaching  us  to  do  more  and  more  perfectly  the  will  of  God  in  this  life,  and 
helping  us  to  our  joyful  resurrection  through  the  grave  and  gate  of  death, 
which  we  need  not  fear  to  enter,  since  He  has  gone  before.  Though  '  the 
wrath'  is  still  there,  and  ever  will  be,  burning  for  ever  fiercely,  while  there 
is  any  such  evil  to  be  devoured  by  it — the  wrath  revealed  against  all  "  un- 
righteousness of  such  as  keep  down  the  truth  in  iniquity,' — yet  we  are 
safely  sheltered  from  that  wrath  in  the  Love  of  our  Lord. 

Of  course,  the  Apostle  will  have  presently  to  guard  this  precious  doc- 


CHAP.  V.   1—11.  107 

trine  from  antinomian  perversion.  He  here  assumes  that  we  are  yielding 
to  be  embraced  by  that  Love,  not  wilfully  fighting  with  it,  persisting  in  that 
which  our  own  hearts  know  to  be  evil,  and  as  such  to  be  working  death 
in  us. 

'155.  V.  10.  enemies^  that  is,  not  hated  by  God,  or  hateful  to  Him,  but 
hostile  to  Him,  as  in  Col.  i.  21. 

156.  V.  10.  we  were  reconciled  to  God  hy  the  death  of  His  Son.  The 
language  of  St.  Paul  is,  '  God  hath  reconciled  us  to  Himself  by  the  death 
of  His  Son.'  '  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself  It 
is  not  He  who  needs  to  be  reconciled  to  us ;  for  He  loves  us  all  along.  It 
is  we,  poor,  sinstricken  creatures,  who  need  to  be  reconciled,  brought 
back,  to  Him.  And,  in  order  to  this,  as  the  first  step  to  this,  we  need  to 
be  assured  of  His  Love  to  us.  And  He  has  given  the  most  convincing 
proof  of  it,  in  that  He  sent  His  own  dear  Son  to  take  part  with  us  alto- 
gether, in  all  except  our  sin,  in  our  weaknesses  and  trials  and  temptations, 
and  in  that  which  is  the  very  horror  of  our  souls, — that  which  is  the  conse- 
quence of  sin  in  our  nature, — by  which  Sin,  as  a  hateful  tyrant,  having 
power  to  inflict  it  upon  us,  triumphs  and  lords  it,  as  it  were,  over  our  whole 
race — through  dread  of  which  so  many  all  their  lives  are  kept  in  a  state  of 
anguish,  subject  to  bondage — which  nothing  but  a  firm  trust  in  God's 
Fatherly,  forgiving  Mercy,  and  reconciling  Love,  can  make  us  face  without 
terror : — He  sent  Him  to  take  part  in  our  death.  And  that  death  He 
shared,  not  worn  out  with  the  decrepitude  of  age,  wearied  with  life's  toils, 
and  with  the  framework  of  the  body  already  crumbling  down  and  decaying 
— not  after  long  sickness,  wearying  out  its  strength  and  deadening  its  sen- 
sibilities ;  but  in  the  prime  of  life,  in  the  fulness  and  vigour  of  manhood, 
under  the  most  distressing  circumstances,  persecuted,  betrayed,  forsaken, 
rejected, — He  the  pure  and  meek,  the  loving  and  innocent,  rejected  for  the 
outlaw,  the  man  of  violence  and  blood, — condemned  by  an  iniquitous  judg- 
mentj-with  bitter  shame,  contempt,  and  mockery,  sentenced  to  suffer  cruel 
pain  and  anguish, — and  all  this  done,  and  His  precious  blood  shed,  by  those 
whom  He  had  come  to  bless  and  save. 

This  was  the  Sacrifice  of  faith  and  obedience,  offered  by  One  in  our  na- 
ture, and  perfect  unto  the  end,  which  our  Father's  Loving  Wisdom  had 
prepared.  In  this  way  our  Lord  took  part  with  that  death,  which  sin  had 
brought  upon  us  all.  As  He  came  to  take  our  nature,  and  to  become  one 
with  us,  whom  He  was  pleased  to  call  His  brethren,  it  was  needful  also  that 
He  should  pay  the  debt  of  nature,  the  debt  which  Sin  (according  to  the  Apos- 
tle's bold  personification  in  the  next  chapter)  had  the  right  to  demand  of 
Him,  if  He  was  really  willing  to  be  a  true  Son  of  Man.  And  now  that  He, 
our  Head,  has  paid  that  debt,  we  are  free.     We  are  made  partakers  of  His 


1^ 


108  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

death,  are  reckoned  to  have  died,  to  have  paid  this  deabt  of  sin,  because 
He  died.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  St.  Paul.  We  shall  die,  indeed,  still,  but 
no  longer  as  paying  a  debt  which  we  owe  to  Sin,  no  longer  as  incurring  a 
part  of  the  curse  of  our  fallen  nature.  The  sting  of  death  is  taken  away 
for  us.  We  shall  die  now  because  our  Father  wills  it,  He  wills  that  all  His 
children  shall  pass,  as  their  elder  Brother  has  passed  before  them,  through 
death  unto  life. 

But  we  are  anticipating  here  the  matter,  which  the  Apostle  will  bring 
before  us  more  fully  in  the  next  chapter.  Let  the  expression,  however, 
once  more  be  noted.  The  Apostle  does  not  say  that  God  is  reconciled  to 
us  by  the  Death  of  His  Son,  but  that  we  are  reconciled  to  God.  The  differ- 
ence in  the  meaning  of  these  two  expressions  is  infinite.  It  is  our  unwill- 
ingness, fear,  distrust,  that  is  taken  away  by  the  revelation  of  God's  Love 
to  us  in  His  Son.  There  is  nothing  now  to  prevent  our  going,  with  the 
prodigal  of  old,  and  throwmg  ourselves  at  His  Feet,  and  saying,  '  Father,  I 
have  sinned ;  but  Thou  art  Love.' 

157.  V.  11.  a7id  not  only  so,  but  also  glorying  in  God,  cCr.  Not  only 
so,  says  St.  Paul,  not  only  '  reconciled,'  it  is  too  cold  a  word  to  use  when 
we  speak  of  our  relation  to  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  We  too,  like  the  Jews, 
can  triumph  and  glory  in  God  Himself,  as  our  Father  and  God — in  all  His 
Excellencies  and  Perfections,  in  all  the  wonders  of  His  Power  and  Wisdom 
and  Goodness. 

•  We  boast  of  our  recovered  powers  ; 
Lords  are  we  of  the  land  and  floods  ; 
And  earth,  and  heaven,  and  all,  is  ours, 
And  we  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's.' 

J.  Wesley. 

But  we  do  this,  not  confiding  in  anything  in  ourselves,  as  meriting  His 
regard  or  claiming  His  special  favour ;  we  do  it  '  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  whom  we  have  now  received,'  had  given  us,  '  the  reconciliation,' 
by  whom  God  Himself  has  now  '  at-oned'  us,  brought  us  back  unto  Himself. 

158.  V.  11.  we  have  now  received  the  at-one-ment.  It  is  very  unfortu- 
nate that  the  true  meaning  of  the  word  atonement,  which  occurs  in  this  pas- 
sage in  the  English  Yersion,  namely,  at-one-ment,  or  reconciliation,  should 
be  so  commonly  lost  sight  of,  and  the  notion  introduced  of  something  paid 
down  to  atone  (as  it  is  said),  or  compensate,  to  God,  or,  at  least,  to  recon- 
cile God  to  us,  for  our  sins.  But  the  English  reader  should  remember  that 
the  word  is  identically  the  same  in  the  Greek,  as  that  which  has  just  before 
been  twice  rendered  in  the  English  Yersion,  '  reconciled.'  And,  as  has 
been  said  already,  St.  Paul  is  not  speaking  of  anything  being  done  to  recon- 
cile God  to  uSf  but  of  what  God  has  done  to  reconcile  us  to  Himself;  and 


CHAP.  V.  12—21.  109 

so  we  find  him  speaking  of  our  receiving  the  reconciliation  or  at-one-ment, 
as  a  gift  from  our  Father's  Love. 

CHAP.  V.  12—21. 
(12)  Therefore,  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  through  sin  death,  and  so  death  went  through- 
out unto  all  men,  for  that  all  sin ; — (13)  For,  previously 
to  law,  sin  was  in  the  world  ;  but  it  is  not  reckoned  as 
sin,  if  there  be  no  law.  (14)  Yet  death  reigned  from 
Adam  until  Moses,  and  upon  those  who  sinned  not 
after  the  likeness  of  the  transgression  of  Adam,  who  is 
the  figure  of  the  One  to  come.  (15)  But,  not  as  the 
fault,  so  also  is  the  free  gift.  For,  if  by  the  fault  of 
the  one  the  many  died,  much  more  the  grace  of  God, 
and  the  gift  by  grace,  the  grace  of  the  one  man  Jesus 
Christ,  abounded  unto  the  many.  (16)  And,  not  as  it 
was  by  one  that  sinned,  so  is  the  gift.  For  the  judg- 
ment teas  out  of  one  fault,  unto  a  sentence  of  condem- 
nation ;  but  the  free  gift  is  out  of  many  faults,  unto  a 
sentence  of  justification.  (17)  For,  if  through  the  fault 
of  the  one,  death  reigned  through  the  one,  much  more 
they,  who  receive  the  abundance  of  grace  and  of  the 
gift  of  righteousness,  shall  reign  in  life  through  the  one, 
Jesus  Christ. — (18)  So  then,  just  as  through  one  fault, 
it  passed  unto  all  men,  unto  condemnation,  so  also, 
through  one  righteous  act,  it  passed  unto  all  men,  unto 
justification  of  life.  (19)  For,  just  as  through  the 
disobedience  of  the  one  man,  the  many  were  rendered 
sinners,  so  also  by  the  obedience  of  the  one  shall  the 
many  be  made  righteous.  (20)  But  law  came  in  by 
the  way,  so  that  the  fault  abounded.  But,  where  sin 
abounded,    grace   over-abounded  ;     (21)    that,   as   sin 


110  EPISTLE   TO    THE    ROMANS. 

reigned  tlirougli  death ,  so  grace  also  should  reign 
tlirougli  righteousness,  unto  Eternal  Life,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

NOTES. 

159.  V.  12.  through  sin,  death.  Geological  discoveries  abundantly 
show  that  not  only  was  death  in  the  world  before  man's  sin,  but  that  pain 
was  in  the  world,  brute  force  and  violence,  fierce,  ravenous,  animals  de- 
stroying one  another,  the  strong  preying  upon  the  weak,  the  lion  upon  the 
lamb.  All  the  notions,  then,  which  are  imbibed  so  unfortunately  in  child- 
hood from  that  noblest  of  poems,  but  nursery  of  bad  thedogy,  the  Paradise 
Lost,  about  the  effect  of  the  Fall  of  Man  upon  the  animal  creation,  must  be 
discarded.  Half  a  century  ago,  it  would  have  exposed  a  writer  to  the 
charge  of  heresy  or  infidelity  to  have  said  this,  to  have  asserted  that  all 
death  did  not  come  into  the  world  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin ;  just  as 
two  centuries  before,  it  might  have  brought  a  philosopher  to  the  stake,  to 
have  persisted  in  asserting  that  the  earth  went  round  the  sun,  and  not  the 
opposite,  as  the  Scripture  states  it.  It  is  possible  that  St.  Paul  entertained 
this  notion  himself,  namely,  of  all  death  having  come  into  the  world  by 
sin.  For  we  have  no  reason  to  expect  scientific  knovv^ledge  of  any  kind, 
beyond  that  of  the  people  of  his  age,  in  a  Scripture  writer.  It  is  not  in 
this  way,  by  securing  an  historian,  or  prophet,  or  evangehst,  or  apostle, 
from  all  errors  of  detail  in  matters  either  of  science  or  of  fact,  that  the 
power  of  the  Divine  Spirit  is  exhibited  in  Scripture.  The  '  spirit  and  the  life,' 
which  breathes  throughout  the  Holy  Book, — that  which  speaks  to  the  heart, 
and  touches  the  main  springs  of  being  in  a  man, — that  which  teaches  him 
what  is  pure  and  true  and  loving,  and  gives  him  living  bread  to  feed  upon 
in  the  seci^ets  of  his  own  spiritual  consciousness, — this  is  the  work  of  God's 
Spirit,  these  are  the  '  words  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth,' — not  a  mere 
historical  narrative,  or  a  table  of  genealogies,  or  a  statement  of  scientific 
facts,  cosmological,  geological,  astronomical,  or  any  other,  in  all  which 
matters  the  books  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  must  be  tested  by  the  ordinary 
rules,  which  critical  sagacity  would  apply  to  any  other  human  compositions. 
So  it  is  quite  possible  that  St.  Paul  himself  may  have  entertained  the  erro- 
neous notion,  so  common  among  the  best  Christians  within  the  memory  of 
the  present  generation.  But  the  passage  before  us,  perhaps,  is  hardly 
enough  to  show  this.  He  goes  on  to  speak  of  '  death  passing  upon '  all 
mankind;  and  we  may  therefore  fairly  assume  that  in  saying  that  death 
'  came  by  sin,'  he  is  thinlcing,  at  all  events,  only  of  death  as  entering  the 
world  for  man  by  reason  of  the  first  man's  sin. 


CHAP.  V.  12—21.  Ill 

160.  V.  12.  for  that  all  sin.  The  Greek  Aorist  should  be  rendered  by 
this  form  of  the  English  Present  (see  note  110).  The  expression  does  not 
imply,  of  course,  that  '  all  are  sinning '  at  this  moment,  but  is  nearly  equiv- 
alent to  saying  '  all  are  sinners.' 

161.  V.  13.  For,  previously  to  law,  sin  was  in  the  world.  The  Apostle 
breaks  off  his  sentence  here,  with  a  kind  of  long  parenthesis,  extending  to 
the  end  of  v.  17,  when  he  resumes  again,  in  v.  18,  the  language  of  v.  13, 
in  slightly  modified  terms.  He  appears  to  have  been  led  into  the  digres- 
sion in  consequence  of  his  last  expression  '  for  that  all  sin,'  remembering 
that  he  had  just  before  laid  it  down  (iv.  15)  that  'where  there  is  no  law, 
there  is  no  transgression,'  and  that,  consequently,  it  may  seem  contra- 
dictory now  to  include  in  one  general  formula,  as  sinners,  (in  the  phrase, 
'  all  sin,')  all  human  beings  whatsoever — infants,  youu  gchildren,  and  lu- 
natics, as  well  as  rational  adults, — ignorant  and  untutored  heathens,  as  well 
as  intelligent  and  well-instructed  Jews  and  Christians.  He  stops  short, 
therefore,  for  a  few  moments  to  clear  up  this  point,  and  says,  '  For,  before 
lavv^  was  given,'  (the  context  shows  that  he  is  speaking  of  written  law,  and 
especially  the  Mosaic  law,)  '  sin  was  in  the  world' — men  did  wrong,  they 
went  astray  from  the  right  path,  in  other  words,  they  sinned  (for  the  Greek 
word,  translated  'sin,'  means  'an  erring  from,  a  missing  of  the  path'). 
Still,  where  there  is  no  law,  it  is  not  reckoned  properly  as  sin ;  it  cannot 
properly  be  called  sin ;  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  having  in  it  the  true 
essence  of  that  sin,  against  which  God's  wrath  is  revealed,  presumptuous, 
wilful  sin,  committed  against  light  and  better  knowledge,  which  is  called 
by  the  Psalmist  the  '  great  transgression.'  God  '  winks  at,'  and  in  His 
mercy  overlooks,  the  '  times  of  ignorance.'  Nevertheless,  it  was  sin — a 
departure  from  the  path  of  righteousness  and  life.  And  this  we  see,  be- 
cause all  died ;  '  death  reigned,'  all  along  the  stream  of  time,  '  from  Adam 
down  to  Moses,'  all  the  while  before  the  Mosaic  law  was  given,  and  onward, 
— yes,  '  and  over  those  who  did  not  sin '  knowingly  and  wilfully,  '  after  the 
likeness  of  Adam's  transgression,'  over  infants,  and  young  children,  and 
lunatics,  &c.,  all  inheriting  a  fallen  nature,  as  born  of  Adam,  all  prone  of 
themselves  to  sin,  as  fallen  creatures,  all  having,  in  their  fleshly  nature  a 
seed  of  evil,  and,  therefore,  lying  under  the  necessity  of  death.  For  by 
death  only,  as  St.  Paul  will  presently  show,  can  that  evil  be  brought  to  an 
end  for  us,  and  the  body  be  redeemed  from  its  power. 

162.  V.  14.  ivho  is  the  figure  of  the  One  to  come  ;  that  is,  who,  by  bring- 
ing, through  his  unfaithfulness,  this  necessity  of  death  to  every  member  of 
the  race,  is  the  figure  of  Him  who  was  to  come,  and,  through  his  faithful- 
ness, has  brought  the  free  gift  of  life  to  every  member  of  the  race. 

163.  V.  15.  not  as  the  fault,  so  also  is  the  free  gift ;  that  is,  the  free 


112  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

gift  of  God's  grace  outdid  infinitely,  by  its  consequences  of  good,  the  evil 
consequences  of  the  fault  of  Adam. 

164.  V.  15.  the  many,  which  verse  18  shows  to  mean  '■all  men,' as, 
indeed,  the  context  itself  proves.  For  '  the  many '  who  '  died  in  Adam,' 
were,  of  course,  the  whole  race  ;  and,  therefore  also,  blessed  be  God  !  '  the 
many,'  to  whom  '  the  grace  of  God  abounded,  and  the  free  gift  by  grace  of 
the  one  man  Jesus  Christ,'  the  gift  of  righteousness,  must  be  the  whole 
race,  the  whole  family  of  man. 

165.  V.  15.  the  grace  of  God.  Let  it  be  noted  that  what  the  Apostle 
speaks  of  here,  as  ever,  is  '  the  grace  of  God '  Himself,  and  the  gift  (of 
righteousness)  by  grace,  which  God  Himself,  our  Father,  sends  us,  by  the 
one  man,  Jesus  Christ.     '  All  things  are  of  God.' 

166.  V.  17.  shall  reign  in  life,  shall  triumph,  exult,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  abundant  life. 

16*7.  V.  18.  so  then,  just  as  through  one  fault,  <&c.  The  Apostle  evi- 
dently intends  in  this  abrupt  sentence  to  put  strongly  forward  the  anti- 
thetical points,  namely, 

one  fault  of  Adam    ....     one  righteous  act  of  Christ, 

unto  all  men unto  all  men, 

unto  condemnation  ....     unto  justification  of  life. 

168.  V.  18.  one  righteous  act.  We  may  understand  by  this  the  one 
eternal  act  of  loving  obedience,  by  which  He  surrendered  Himself  to  do  the 
Father's  will,  to  take  our  nature,  and  become  one  with  us  for  our  redemp- 
tion— that  act  including  in  itself  all  the  precious  details  of  His  obedience 
in  Life  and  in  Death.  In  the  next  verse,  this  '  one  righteous  act'  is  ex- 
pressed by  '  the  obedience  of  one.' 

169.  V.  18.  Let  the  words  of  this  verse  be  well  noted.  They  are  the 
words  of  an  Apostle  of  Christ,  and  blessed  be  God  that  he  was  moved  to 
write  them  so  plainly,  that  he  that  runs  may  read  the  great  truth,  the  gra- 
cious message  of  God's  Love  to  man.  By  Christ's  one  act  of  loving  obe- 
dience, the  free  gift  of  God  has  come  upon  all  men,  unto  justification  of 
life,  that  is,  unto  a  justification  which  brings  with  it  the  gift  of  life. 

170.  V.  19.  For,  just  as  through  the  obedience,  dr.  '  As  by  the  disobe- 
dience of  the  one  man,'  Adam,  '  the  many,'  the  whole  race,  '  were  render- 
ed sinners,' — inherited  a  sinful  nature,  and,  as  they  came  to  years  of  con- 
sciousness, sinned  actually,  more  or  less,  in  thought  and  word  and  deed, — 
'  so  by  the  obedience  of  the  one  man,'  Jesus  Christ,  '  shall  the  many,' 
the  whole  race,  '  be  made  righteous.' 

171.  V.  19.  the  many  shall  be  made  righteous.  The  use  of  the  future, 
in  tlais  and  other  such  passages,  seems  to  contain  a  reference  to  the  final 
declaration  of  their  righteousness  on  the  day  of  account,  of  that  righteous- 


CHAP.  V.  12—21.  113 

ness  which  really  belonged  to  '  the  many '  all  along,  through  the  grace  of 
God  bestowed  upon  them  in  their  Head,  and  which  had  already  been  re- 
vealed to  some,  and  enjoyed  by  them,  even  in  this  life.  But  (see  notes  81, 
120,  127)  it  also  refers  to  the  multiplied  declarations  of  righteousness, 
which  shall  be  made  in  this  life  to  the  individual  members  of  the  great  hu- 
man family.  Whenever  the  '  unrighteousness '  of  any  Jew,  Christian,  or 
Heathen,  '  is  forgiven,  and  his  sin  covered,' — whenever  he  feels  any  meas- 
ure of  the  peace  of  God's  children,  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  any  duty,  or 
in  forsaking  any  path  of  evil, — whenever  there  is  brought  home  to  his  heart 
in  any  way  the  message  of  God's  Fatherly  Love  by  means  of  any  one  of 
Earth's  ten  thousand  voices, — then  he  hears,  as  it  were,  a  fresh  declaration 
of  righteousness,  he  may  know  that  he  is  recognised  again  as  a  child  of 
God's  House. 

Though  thus  declared  to  be  'righteous'  creatures,  in  God's  sight, 
whether  here,  in  this  world,  again  and  again,  or  finally,  on  the  great  day 
of  account,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  will  not  be  judged, — rewarded  or 
punished,  as  tjjeir  Father  sees  meet, — dealt  with,  each  according  to  his 
works.  On  the  contrary,  the  whole  aim  of  the  Apostle  is  to  bring  home 
an  assurance  to  the  heart  of  his  reader,  that  there  will  be  such  a  judgment 
for  all — that  the  Jews,  though  a  '  righteous  people,'  in  covenant  with  God, 
would  not  be  exempt  from  it — that  all  men,  though  redeemed  in  Christ, 
set  free  from  the  curse,  and  made  partakers  of  the  gift  of  righteousness, 
embraced  in  a  yet  more  gracious  covenant,  as  children  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus,  would  still  have  to  appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  to  re- 
ceive each  a  portion  at  His  hands,  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  their  mor- 
tal bodies. 

172.  V.  20.  hut  laio  cmne  in  by  the  loay,  dc.  But,  '  by  the  way,'  pa- 
renthetically, as  the  stream  of  human  life  flowed  on,  '  law  came  in,'  the  rev- 
elations of  God's  will  were  made  more  clearly  to  man,  with  this  effect,  that 
he  came  to  see  more  plainly  the  holiness  of  God,  and  his  own  sinfulness, 
and  thus  his  known  conscious  wanderings  from  the  way  of  life  were  mul- 
tiplied, and  the  evil  of  each  act  of  sin  intensified.  But  God's  grace  yet 
more  abounded ;  it  defied,  as  it  were,  the  power  of  evil  to  do  its  worst. 
He  that  gave  His  law.  He  that  revealed  His  word.  He  that  sent  His  Spirit, 
to  convince  men  of  sin,  gave  also  at  the  same  time,  with  clearer  and 
stronger  and  more  abundant  evidence  than  before,  the  tokens  of  His  Good- 
ness. And  at  last  He  sent  His  own  dear  Son,  to  make  more  plain  than  ever 
the  beauty  of  Holiness,  and  the  exellence  of  the  Law,  with  the  full  message 
also  of  His  Fatherly  Love  to  all  the  world,  that  as  sin  had  reigned  and  rev- 
elled, as  it  were,  through  the  death  which  it  had  brought  on  all  the  race, 
so  now  might  grace  reign  through  the  righteousness,  which  it  would  give 
to  all  the  race,  unto  Life  Eternal,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 


114:  EPISTLE   TO   THE    ROMANS. 

173.  It  may  be  well  to  gather  up  here  in  one  view  the  doctrine  of  the 
Apostle,  which  he  has  at  length  fully  enunciated,  having  advanced  step  by 
step  in  his  statement,  as  the  course  of  his  argument  required  it. 

(1)  He  announces  that  in  the  Gospel  is  revealed  God's  gift  of  right- 
eousness, which  is  not  to  be  claimed,  as  a  matter  of  right  or  desert,  for 
any  works  of  ours,  but  springs  from  God's  free  Grace,  and  must  be  re- 
ceived by  us  simply  by  faith,  by  looking  up  to  our  Father  in  Heaven,  and 
trusting  in  His  Love. 

(2)  As  St.  Paul  knew  that  the  Jew  of  his  day,  or  the  Jewish  proselyte, 
for  whom  he  is  more  expi-essly  writing,  even  though  devout  and  pious, 
would  suppose  himself  to  be  already  righteous,  in  the  right  of  his  Jewish 
birth  or  practices,  and,  therefore,  fancy  that  he,  at  all  events,  had  no  need 
of  any  free  gift  of  this  kind,  he  must  try  to  convince  him  of  his  need  of  it ; 
and  this  he  proceeds  to  do  by  one  or  two  circuitous  steps. 

(i)  He  leads  the  Jews  on  to  condemn  very  strongly  the  wilful  and  gross 
breaches  of  the  moral  law  among  the  Gentiles. 

(ii)  He  turns  round  upon  him  suddenly,  and  asks  if  he  really  can  be- 
lieve that  the  like  offences  would  be  overlooked  in  a  Jew,  merely  because 
he  was  a  Jew  and  circumcised. 

(iii)  He  refers  to  it  as  a  notorious  matter  of  fact  that  such  offences 
were  committed  by  Jews. 

(iv)  He  further  quotes  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  as  confirming  this  fact, 
and  charging  such  things  against  them. 

(v)  Having  thus  broken  down,  in  certain  cases,  at  all  events,  the  wall 
of  immunity,  within  which  the  Jew  had  come  to  consider  himself  to  be 
sheltered,  as  God's  special  favourite,  from  that  '  wrath  of  God,'  which  is 
'  revealed  against  all  unrighteousness  of  men,  who  keep  back  the  truth  in 
iniquity,'  he  now  goes  on  plainly  to  assert  that  no  Jew  is  righteous,  in  the 
way  he  supposes,  as  a  matter  of  right,  by  virtue  of  his  descent  or  his  works, 
but  simply  by  the  mercy  of  God,  which  gave  his  Father  Abraham  his 
righteousness,  and  gave  his  whole  nation  its  righteousness,  as  an  act  of  free 
grace,  not  of  debt. 

(vi)  But  that  grace,  he  says,  is  not  confined  to  the  Jew,  but  extends  to 
the  Gentile  also ;  for  there  is  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  will  be  just 
and  loving  alike  to  all. 

(vii)  Hence  it  has  pleased  God  now,  in  the  fulness  of  His  own  good 
time,  to  manifest  that  grace  freely  to  all,  as  He  did  formerly  in  some  meas- 
ure to  the  Jews ;  and  this  He  has  done  in  the  Gospel  of  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ. 

(viii)  But,  though  now  first  fully  revealed,  it  was  in  His  Son  alone  that 
God  looked  with  favour  upon  Abraham  of  old,  and  the  whole  Jewish  peo- 


CHAP.  Y.    12—21.  115 

pie,  and  pronounced  them  to  be  righteous  before  Him.  It  was  through 
Him  alone,  and  His  perfect  righteousness,  hereafter  to  be  manifested,  that 
God  gave  to  them  the  gift  of  righteousness. 

(ix)  In  fact,  as  he  reminds  them,  Abraham  received  the  gift  while  yet 
in  a  Gentile  state,  uucircumcised,  and  his  circumcision  was  but  a  sign  and 
seal  of  the  grace  already  bestowed. 

(x)  The  Jew,  therefore,  is  as  much  concerned  as  other  men  in,  hearing 
of  this  gift  of  righteousness  which  is  announced  in  the  Gospel. 

(3)  But  the  gift  is  bestowed  freely  upon  the  whole  human  race  ;  for, 
as  all  became  sinners  and  subject  to  death  in  Adam,  so  shall  all  be  made 
righteous,  and  be  made  sharers  of  the  Life  that  is  in  Christ. 

1*74.  Thus  then  the  '  good  tidings  of  great  joy  for  all  mankind '  is 
this  divine  announcement,  that  the  whole  human  race  are  looked  upon  and 
dealt  with  as  righteous  creatures,  in  Jesus  Christ  their  Head.  The  curse 
of  their  sinful  nature  has  been  taken  away  altogether — has  been  taken 
away  from  the  first,  though  the  fact  is  only  now  fully  declared  in  the 
Gospel — by  God's  Fatherly  Love.  They  are  not  looked  upon  as  they  are 
in  themselves,  but  as  they  are  in  Him,  in  whom  God  Himself  has  loved 
and  redeemed  them.  As  by  their  natural  birth  from  Adam  they  fell  at 
once,  as  fallen  sinful  creatures,  under  a  '  condemnation  of  death,'  so  by 
the  free  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  they  shall  receive,  every  one  of 
them,  a  'justification  of  life.'  The  gift  of  life,  which  all  men  possess, 
whether  physical  or  spiritual,  is  itself  a  proof  of  this.  They  would  not 
have  had  such  gifts  at  all  vouchsafed  to  them,  if  they  had,  indeed,  been 
still  lying  under  the  curse,  if  they  had  not  been  redeemed,  and  made 
righteous.  The  present  life,  with  all  its  blessings,  is  one  portion  of  this 
gift  of  life,  which  all  men  partake  of  through  the  grace  of  God  declared 
to  us  in  Christ  Jesus ;  the  resurrection-life,  which  they  will  all  share  in,  is 
another  portion  of  this  gift.  But,  above  all,  the  spiritual  life,  which  all  men 
now  partake  of,  each  in  his  own  measure,  is  another  sign  of  that  '  right- 
eousness,' which  God  has  given  them.  He  Himself,  the  Father  of  Spirits, 
is  everywhere  enlightening  and  quickening  the  spirits  of  men.  Every 
good  thought,  which  has  ever  stirred  within  a  heathen's  mind,  is  a  token 
of  that  work,  which  God's  good  Spirit  is  working  within  him,  as  one  of  the 
great  Human  Family,  redeemed  by  the  Love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  and 
related  all  to  the  Second  Adam  by  a  second  spiritual  birth,  (of  which 
Baptism  is  the  express  sign  and  seal  to  the  Christian,)  as  they  are  by  their 
natural  birth  to  the  first  Adam.  And  God's  Blessed  Will,  in  bestowing 
this  'justification  of  life'  upon  us,  is  this,  that,  making  due  use  of  that 
which  is  now  vouchsafed  to  us,  we  may  find  His  Grace  still  more  abound- 
ing towards  us,  so  that  it  '  may  reign  through  righteousness  unto  Eternal 


116  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

Life,' — so  that  the  Christian,  with  his  full  light  of  the  sun,  and  the  heathen, 
with  his  feeble  glimmering  of  daylight,  it  may  be,  yet  each  according  to 
the  grace  bestowed  upon  him,  '  continuing  patiently  in  well-doing,'  may 
receive  the  precious  gift  of  '  Eternal  Life.' 

CHAP.  VI.    1—4. 

(1)  What  sliall  we  say  tlien  ?  Are  we  to  continue  in 
sin,  so  that  grace  may  abound  ?  Far  from  it.  (2)  We, 
who  died  to  sin,  how  shall  we  any  longer  live  in  it  ? 
(3)  Know  ye  not  that  we  all,  who  were  baptized  into 
Christ  Jesus,  were  baptized  into  His  Death  ?  (4)  We 
were  buried,  then,  together  with  Him  through  the 
Baptism. into  death,  so  that,  as  Christ  was  raised  from 
the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  likewise  we  also 
should  walk  in  newness  of  life. 

NOTES. 
175.  V.  1.  What  shall  we  say  then,  dr.  The  great  doctrine  of  St. 
Paul  requires  now  to  be  guarded  from  corruption,  lest  the  grace  of  God 
be  turned  to  lasciviousness.  All  men  are  redeemed,  reconciled,  brought 
back,  made  righteous,  by  the  love  of  their  Heavenly  Father.  Does  it 
follow,  therefore,  that  they  will  not  be  judged  ?  that  none  of  them  will  be 
condemned  and  punished?  This  was  just  the  mistake  which  the  Jews 
made.  Because  God  had  been  pleased  to  single  out  their  nation, — not  to 
be  made  righteous  exclusively,  as  they  supposed,  while  all  other  nations 
were  left  to  perish, — but  to  have  God's  gift  of  righteousness  declared  and 
made  known  to  them,  signed  and  sealed  to  them,  while  other  nations  were 
for  a  while  left  in  ignorance  of  the  gift,  which  was  meant  for  them  all,  as 
well  as  for  the  Jews,  and  in  fact  was  even  then  bestowed  upon  them  all 
— they  fancied,  that,  being  righteous,  God's  people,  God's  children,  they 
could  not  be  judged  and  condemned  as  others,  as  those  *  sinners  of  the 
Gentiles.'  On  the  contrary,  St.  Paul  means  to  tell  them  that  the  very  gift 
of  righteousness  and  sonship,  which  they  had  received,  would  only  make 
their  judgment  heavier,  and  their  punishment  more  severe,  if  they  lived 
unfaithfully,  if  they  walked  unworthily  of  the  grace  bestowed  upon  them, 
if  they  '  kept  back  the  truth,'  which  they  knew  so  much  more  fully  and 
clearly  than  others,  '  in  iniquity.'  They  would  not  be  judged  and  con- 
demned because  of  their  sinful  nature,  because  of  their  sins  of  infirmity 


CHAP.  VI.    1 — 4.  117 

and  ignorance.  No  son  or  daughter  of  Adam  would  be  condemned  for 
this.  The  whole  human  race  is  made  righteous,  and  released  from  any 
fear  of  judgment  on  this  account.  This  alone  will  be  the  condemnation 
of  any,  whether  Jews  or  Christians  or  Heathens,  that  '  Light  has  come  into 
the  world,'  come  into  their  very  midst,  come  into  their  very  hearts ;  but 
yet  '  they  loved  the  darkness  rather  than  the  light,  because  their  deeds 
were  evil.' 

Accordingly,  the  Apostle  proceeds  in  this  chapter  to  protect  his  teach- 
ing from  any  such  perversion. 

176.  V.  2.  ]'Fe,  who  died  to  sin.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  put  a 
particular  meaning  on  the  expression  *  die  unto  sin,'  that  we  are  likely, 
without  due  attention  to  the  context,  to  lose  entirely  the  spirit  of  the 
words  now  before  us,  and  the  whole  point  of  the  Apostle's  argument.  We 
generally  suppose  that  we  are  to  '  die  unto  sin '  by  some  resolute,  deter- 
mined, act  of  ours,  or,  rather,  by  a  continued  series  of  such  acts,  maintain- 
ed throughout  the  whole  life,  by  the  help  of  Divine  grace,  explaining, 
however,  the  above  language  to  mean  that  we  are  to  put  sin  to  deaths  to 
mortify  the  deeds  of  the  flesh,  to  '  crucify  the  old  man,  and  utterly  abolish 
the  whole  body  of  sin.' 

But  the  Apostle  is  not  here  speaking  of  anything  which  we  have  to  do 
or  have  done,  by  any  efforts  of  ours,  by  any  act  or  exertion  of  our  own. 
He  is  speaking  of  that  which  Christ  our  Head  has  done,  of  that  which  He 
has  done  for  every  man,  of  that  which  really  and  truly  belongs  to  every 
man,  but  which  by  our  Baptism  is  declared  and  ratified,  as  done  for  each 
of  us,  baptized  Christians,  individually. 

The  idea,  which  pervades  the  whole  chapter,  is  this.  St.  Paul  has  just 
been  saying  that  death  came  upon  the  whole  human  race  through  sin, — 
that  we  have  all  inherited  from  our  earthly  parent  a  sinful  nature,  and 
through  that  a  necessity  of  dying, — that  sin  has,  by  our  mere  natural 
birth  a  right,  as  it  were,  to  bring  death  upon  us.  Sin  has  '  reigned  through 
death,' — that  is  St.  Paul's  expression, — sin  has  reigned,  triumphed,  revelled, 
as  it  were,  inflicting  death,  over  every  member  of  the  human  race — even 
over  infants,  young  children,  and  maniacs,  who  had  never  sinned  wilfully 
after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression,  but  yet  had  inherited  in  their 
nature  from  him  the  taint  of  corruption,  the  seeds  of  death.  Thus  he  has 
used  a  strong  figure,  to  make  more  plain  his  meaning  to  us  ;  he  has  per- 
sonified sin,  as  he  elsewhere  personifies  faith,  hope,  love,  &c.  He  has 
represented  sin  as  a  sort  of  tyrant,  which,  by  reason  of  our  natural  descent 
from  Adam,  has  obtained  dominion  over  us,  with  power  to  inflict  death. 
So,  in  another  place  (Heb.  ii.  14)  we  read  of  '  him  that  had  the  power  of 
death,  even  the  devil.'     Maintaining  still  this  figure,  he  here  asks,  '  We, 


118  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

who  have  already  died  to  sin,'  who  have  already  paid  to  sin  that  death, 
which  it  had  a  right  to  inflict  upon  us,  how  shall  we  any  longer  consent  to 
live  in  it,  and  so  bring  ourselves  again  voluntarily  beneath  its  power? 

How  then  have  we  already  paid  this  debt  due  to  sin  ?  In  our  Saviour 
Christ  we  paid  it.  He  died  not  instead  of  us :  but  He  died  for  us,  on  our 
behalf;  He  died  unto  sin  once.  He  paid  to  Sin  in  His  own  person,  as  a 
Son  of  Man,  that  debt,  which,  if  He  really  came  to  be  a  true  member  of 
the  race,  a  true  brother-man.  He  was  bound,  as  any  one  of  us,  to  pay, — 
bound  by  His  owti  gracious  act,  in  taking  our  nature,  with  all  its  weak- 
ness and  feebleness,  with  its  necessity  of  dying,  though  without  its  taint 
of  sin.  And  we  are  reckoned  so  completely  one  with  Him,  and  declared 
to  be  so  in  our  Baptism,  that  His  Death  is  regarded  as  ours.  We  have 
paid  this  debt  to  sin,  the  tyrant,  because  He,  our  Chief  and  Head,  has 
paid  it. 

Of  course,  it  is  but  a  figure  of  speech  to  say  that  sin  has  by  nature  a 
claim  upon  us,  that  we  by  nature  owe  death,  as  a  debt  to  sin.  Dropping 
the  metaphor,  the  real  truth  thus  meant  to  be  expressed  is  that  our  death 
is  a  consequence  of  the  sinful  taint,  which  we  inherit  in  our  nature — that 
we  must  die  because  of  our  sin.  But  our  Lord  was  under  no  such  neces- 
sity of  dying,  unless  He  willed  to  become  wholly  one  with  us,  with  us  in 
our  fallen,  sorrowful  state,  with  us  in  all  things,  except  our  sin.  If  He 
came  thus  to  be  made  like  unto  His  brethren,  it  was  needful  that  He  should 
die.  And  death,  though  to  us  the  consequence  of  sin,  has  no  necessary 
connection  with  sin ;  there  is  nothing  impure  or  unholy  in  death,  that  a 
Holy  Being  should  be  defiled  by  it.  To  Him  death  was  what  it  is  to  us  now, 
the  necessary  painful  passage  for  a  human  being  out  of  this  life  to  another, 
without  any  shadow  of  the  curse  to  darken  it.  That  the  mere  pains  of 
death,  the  faintness  of  spirit,  the  shrinking  of  nature,  are  no  signs  of  the 
curse,  we  must  believe,  because  we  know  that  in  ages  long  before  man's 
sin,  the  innocent  brute  creation  suffered,  as  they  do  now.  There  is  a  mys- 
tery here,  which  we  cannot  explain  ;  but  the  fact  is  certain,  that  suffering 
and  pain  and  death  itself  were  in  the  world  before  man's  sin,  and,  there- 
fore, they  have  no  necessary  connection  with  sin  and  the  curse. 

Thus,  then,  we  see  what  our  Lord's  Death  did  for  us.  It  did  not  do 
away  with  the  necessity  of  our  dying ;  for  we  must  still  die.  But  it  did 
away  with  the  necessity  of  our  dying  as  accursed  creatures^  of  our  suffering 
death  as  a  part  of  the  curse,  of  our  paying  death  as  a  debt,  which  sin  had 
a  right  to  demand  of  us.  We  are  reckoned  to  have  paid  that  debt. 
When  our  Lord,  the  righteous  Son  of  Man,  died,  as  if  He  were  a 
sinner,  as  if  He  were  by  nature  under  the  curse,  as  if  He  were  under 
the  necessity  of  dying.  He  '  died  unto  sin,'  the  Apostle  tells  us  (vi.  10) ; 


CHAP.  VI.    1 4:.  119 

He  recognised,  as  it  were,  the  right  of  the  tyrant  to  put  Him  to  death,  as 
a  Son  of  Man.  He  paid  the  precious  price  of  His  Death  for  us,  as  a  debt 
to  sin,  though  He  did  not  owe  it,  except  for  His  Love's  sake  to  us  His 
brethren;  and  so  dying,  He  paid,  as  our  Head,  a  sufficient  debt  to  sin  the 
tyrant,  to  release  us  from  any  further  necessity  of  paying.  He  paid  this 
debt  on  behalf  of  us  all,  though  He  paid  it  not  in  our  stead,  that  is,  He 
paid  it  not  in  the  way,  in  which  we,  unredeemed,  should  have  had  to  pay 
it.  He  did  not  bear  the  weight  of  the  curse ;  He  did  not  suffer  the  ac- 
cumulated weight  of  woe,  due,  as  a  punishment,  to  the  sins  of  the  world. 
St.  Paul  says  not  a  word  of  this.  What  he  says  is  the  same  as  we  find 
written  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  namely,  that  He  took  our  nature  '  in 
order  that  by  the  grace  of  God  he  might  taste  death  for  every  man '  (Heb. 
ii.  9).  '  For  it  became  Him,  for  whom  are  all  things  and  by  whom  are  all 
things,  in  bringing  many  sous  unto  glory,  to  make  the  Captain  of  their 
salvation  perfect  through  sufferings.'  (Heb.  ii.  10) — '  Forasmuch  then  as 
the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood.  He  also  Himself  likewise 
took  part  of  the  same ;  that,  through  death.  He  might  destroy  him  that  had 
the  power  of  death,  even  the  devil.'     (Heb.  ii.  14.) 

In  other  words,  our  Lord,  through  death,  by  dying  as  we  sinners  must 
die,  declared  most  fully,  by  His  Father's  gracious  Will,  His  brotherhood 
with  us.  And  so,  by  the  loving  Wisdom  of  God,  the  cloud  of  guilty  fear 
has  been  removed,  which  must  otherwise  have  hung,  by  reason  of  the  sin 
in  our  nature,  between  our  souls  and  the  blessed  Face  of  our  Most  Holy 
and  Glorious  Creator.  The  curse  has  been  utterly  taken  away ;  and  all  we 
of  the  human  race,  being  i-ecognised  as  one  with  our  Head,  are  counted  to 
be  righteous  as  He  is  righteous,  are  made  '  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
Him.'  We  shall  die,  indeed,  still,  but  we  shall  not  die  under  a  curse ;  we 
shall  die  as  righteous  creatures,  creatures  freed  from  the  curse,  however 
they  may  need  to  be  chastened.  We  shall  die  now,  not  because  we  must 
pay  a  debt  to  sin  the  tyrant,  not  because  we  must  suffer  it  as  a  penalty,  an 
awful  doom,  because  of  our  sin ;  but  because  our  Heavenly  Father  wills  it, 
because  we  must  follow  the  steps  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  because,  as  He  our 
Head  and  King  and  Elder  Brother  passed  through  the  grave  and  gate  of 
death,  so  must  we  pass  also — they  that  have  done  good  to  a  resurrection 
of  life,  they  that  have  done  evil,  and  have  died  in  evil,  to  a  resurrection  of 
condemnation — to  be  beaten  with  few  or  with  many  stripes,  as  He  shall 
order,  who,  in  that  day,  as  we  are  told,  shall  execute  judgment,  '  because 
He  is  the  Son  of  Man.' 

I'ZY.  V.  3  were  baptized  into  His  Death,  that  is,  were  declared  by  our 
Baptism  to  have  a  share  in  His  Death.  Going  down  under  the  water,  (as 
the  custom  was  of  Baptism  in  those  days,)  as  into  a  grave,  they  were 


120  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

'  buried,'  as  it  were,  '  with  Him  by  baptism  into  His  Death.'  It  was  a  sign 
and  symbol  of  their  being  so  united  to  Him,  that  His  Death  became  theirs, 
that,  because  He  had  died  unto  sin,  they  had  died  also.  All  men  have 
thus  a  share  in  the  precious  Death  of  Christ  their  Lord  ;  though  the  mass 
of  human  kind  do  not  yet  know  the  Love  wherewith  they  are  loved.  But 
we,  Christians,  know  it,  and  we  have  our  Baptism  as  the  assurance  and 
pledge,  the  sign  and  seal,  of  all  our  Father's  loving-kindness  to  us,  the  out- 
ward token  of  that  other  mightier  sign  and  seal,  the  inward  pledge  of  God's 
Love,  which  every  living  man  has,  namely,  the  secret  work  of  His  own 
good  Spirit  in  the  heart.  Thus  it  is  our  Father's  will  for  us.  His  children, 
to  whom  He  has  graciously  revealed  His  message  of  life,  that  '  by  two  im- 
mutable things,  in  which  it  is  impossible  for  God  to  lie,' — by  the  outward 
visible  sign  and  promise,  and  by  the  inward  spiritual  grace,  the  living  wit- 
ness of  His  Love  within  the  heart — '  we  should,  indeed,  have  a  strong  con- 
solation, who  have  fled  for  refuge  to  lay  hold  of  the  hope  set  before  us  in 
the  Gospel.' 

I'ZS.  V.  4.  that^  like  as  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead  by  the  glory 
of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life.  We  all  have 
a  share  in  our  Saviour's  Life  as  well  as  in  His  Death ;  we  have  both  died  in 
the  death  of  Christ  our  Lord,  and  been  raised  in  His  Resurrection.  Such 
is  the  wonderful  language  which  the  Apostle  uses.  What  He,  our  Head, 
did,  that  we,  the  members  of  His  Body,  share  in — we,  the  whole  brother- 
hood of  Man, — we,  the  whole  race,  whose  nature  He  took  upon  Him.  So, 
then,  he  says,  we  have  a  '  new  life '  given  us  ;  we  stand  in  new  relations  to 
God  and  His  glorious  Universe  ;  we  know  now  for  certain  that  we  are  re- 
garded, not  as  accursed,  but  as  redeemed  creatures.  Behold  !  all  things 
are  become  new  to  us.  We  are  to  walk  henceforth,  not  hanging  down  our 
heads  in  fear  and  trembling  and  despair,  but  rejoicing  as  free  and  happy 
creatures,  as  children  of  God  and  brethren  of  Jesus  Christ. 

179.  V.  4.  raised  by  the  glory  of  the  Father.  St.  Paul  speaks  here,  as 
elsewhere,  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  not  as  raising  Himself  from  the  dead,  or 
rising  by  His  own  inherent  powers,  but,  as  '  being  raised  by  the  glory,'  by 
the  glorious  Might  and  Majesty,  '  of  the  Father.'  This  is  a  point  which  he 
insists  upon  continually,  that  our  Lord,  when  He  came  to  be  '  made  sin,'  to 
die  as  a  sinful  man  on  our  behalf,  gave  up  His  human  spirit  in  the  hour  of 
death  into  His  Father's  hands,  as  any  one  of  us,  His  brethren,  must  do  in 
our  hour  of  death, — He  '  trusted  in  God,'  as  any  one  of  us  must  do,— and 
God  did  deliver  Him,  and  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  and,  so  raising  Him, 
declared  His  good-will  towards  us  all  of  the  human  race,  declared  that  in 
Him,  as  a  Man,  our  Brother,  He  was  perfectly  Avell  pleased,  and  with  us  all 
in  Him. 


CHAP.  VI.    1 — 4.  121 

180.  V.  4.  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life.  Though  his  words 
are  true  in  their  measure  (v.  15 — 21)  of  all  mankind,  yet  the  Apostle  is 
especially  speaking  here  of  Christians,  to  whom  their  Baptism  is  a  sign  and 
seal  of  their  share  in  the  death  of  their  Lord,  and  also  in  His  Resurrection- 
Life.  This  is  expressed  in  the  Church  Catechism  by  saying  that  the  inward 
spiritual  grace,  or  free  gift  of  favour,  which  is  given  us  in  Baptism,  is  *  a 
death  unto  sin '  and  '  new  birth  unto  righteousness.'  These  words  of  the 
Catechism  are  often  explained  to  signify  that  in  our  baptism  is  set  forth  to 
us  our  dut^  to  die  unto  sin,  to  mortify  and  kill  all  vices  in  us,  and  so  to 
walk  in  holiness  of  life,  as  becomes  God's  dear  children.  Of  course,  it  is 
true  that  we  ought  to  do  so  ;  but  just  because  we  have  already  died  unto 
sin,  and  risen  again  unto  righteousness,  in  our  very  birth-hour,  through  the 
gracious  gift  of  God,  by  that  mysterious  union  with  Christ  our  Head,  which 
we  all  enjoy  through  the  grace  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  as  members  of  the 
great  human  family,  and  by  virtue  of  which  we  are  partakers  of  the  Death 
which  He  died,  and  of  the  Life  which  He  now  lives.  That  is  the  '  death 
unto  sin,' — our  share  in  our  Lord's  own  '  Death  unto  sin,' — and  that  is  the 
'  new  birth  unto  righteousness,' — our  share  in  our  Lord's  own  '  Life  unto 
God,'  (Rom.  vi.  10,) — which  are  said  to  be  given  to  us  as  the  inward  spir- 
itual grace,  set  forth  to  us  by  the  outward  visible  sign  in  our  Baptism. 

Light  may  be  thrown  upon  this  point  by  considering  the  language  used 
in  the  Catechism  in  the  case  of  the  other  Holy  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  In  that  case,  the  '  inward  spiritual  grace,'  or  free  gift  of  favour, 
set  forth  to  us  by  the  Bread  and  Wine,  is  not  something  in  ourselves,  or 
something  to  be  wrought  in  ourselves,  but  something  out  of  ourselves,  some- 
thing that  is  given  us  in  Christ,  a  share  or  participation  in  which  our 
Father  gives  us  as  the  free  gift  of  His  Love.  The  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ  are  represented  to  us  by  the  Elements,  whether  we  come  to  feed  by 
faith  upon  them  at  that  particular  time  or  not.  These  things,  out  of  our- 
selves, are  set  forth  to  us  in  that  Holy  Sacrament,  as  the  source  of  all  Life 
of  every  kind  to  us  all,  of  all  the  blessings  which  we  enjoy  in  our  daily  life, 
personal,  family,  social,  or  national — as  the  great  provision  of  our  Father's 
Love  for  us,  of  which  we  are  partaking,  day  by  day,  at  every  moment,  as 
redeemed  creatures,  though  we  may  not  know  it  or  may  not  heed  it, — of 
which  every  man  everywhere  is  partaking,  though  he  may  not  know  what  the 
"Word  made  Flesh  has  done  at  his  Father's  bidding  for  the  children  of  men. 
But,  in  that  Holy  Supper,  these  things  are  brought  vividly  before  us  by  the 
'  outward  and  visible  sign '  of  them  ;  and  we  are  called  more  closely  and 
deeply  to  consider  them,  and  to  feed  upon  them  in  our  hearts  by  faith. 
Whether  we  do  feed  by  living  faith  upon  them  or  not,  at  such  times,  these 
things  are  then  set  forth  to  us,  as  God's  free  gift,  His  gift  of  grace,  to  the 
6 


122  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

children  of  men.  "We  may  thankfully  use  the  precious  gift,  or  we  may  sin- 
fully abuse  it,  '  not  discerning  the  Body  of  the  Lord,'  which  the  sign  is 
meant  to  signify.  But  the  point  now  to  be  noticed  is  that  the  '  inward  spir- 
itual grace  '  is  not  the  effect  wrought  upon  ourselves  by  coming  to  the  Holy 
Sacrament,  depending,  therefore,  on  the  spirit  in  which  we  come  to  it,  but 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  which  are  graciously  given  to  us  of  God, 
which  we  may  or  may  not  faithfully  partake  of,  which  are  given  to  us, 
hov/ever,  and  to  all  the  human  race,  not  only  in  the  Sacrament,  but  at  all 
times,  and  of  which,  in  fact,  all  men  are  everywhere  partaking,  through 
God's  mercy,  and  so  receiving  all  the  life  they  have,  as  redeemed  creatures, 
whether  they  feed  upon  it  by  living  faith  or  not,  whether  they  know  the 
precious  gift  of  God's  grace  or  not,  whether  they  heed  or  disregard  it.* 

In  like  manner,  in  Holy  Baptism,  the    outward  visible  sign '  of  water, 
in  which  the  person,  in  those  days,  was  immersed  or,  as  it  were,  buried,  is 
the  sin,  indeed,  of  our  dying  and  rising  again,  but  this  death  and  resurrec- 
tion is  not  something  iji  ourselves,  or  something  wrought  in  ourselves,  but 
something  out  of  ourselves,  something  that  is  given  us  in  Christ,  which  is 
set  forth  to  us  in  the  Sacrament  of  God's  gift  of  grace,  of  which  we  are 
partakers,  which  is  bestowed  freely  upon  us  and  all  mankind,  and  depends 
not  in  any  way  on  the  spirit  in  which  we  come  or  are  brought  to  the  Sacra- 
ment.    That  gift  is  a  '  death  unto  sin,'  which  is  given  us  because  Christ 
died,  and  a  new  life,  a  *  new  birth  unto  righteousness,'  which  is  given  us, 
and  daily  maintained  in  us,  because  Christ  lives.     So  '  being  by  nature,'  by 
our  mere  natural  descent  from  Adam,  '  children  of  wrath,'  lying  under  a 
curse,  '  we  are  hereby  made,'  that  is,  adopted,  avouched,  declared,  taken 
formally  to  be,  what  in  truth  we  were  before  from  our  very  birth-hour, 
'  the  children  of  God.'    Before  our  baptism  we  were  partakers  of  the  Life 
and  Death  of  our  Lord,  we  were  receiving  daily  supplies  of  mercy  for  body 
and  soul,  by  virtue  of  His  Body  and  His  Blood,  which  our  Father's  Love 
has  given  to  be  the  source  of  all  blessing  to  the  children  of  men.     But  we 
had  no  assurance  that  they  might  not  be  taken  from  us,  by  reason  of  our 
own  manifold  unworthiness,  that  we  might  not  be  left,  at  some  time  or 
other,  in  our  hour  of  need,  forsaken  and  forlorn.     At  all  events,  whatever 
we  might  reason  out  to  ourselves,  as  many  pious  heathens  have  done,  in 
order  to  assure  our  hearts  before  Him,  by  considering  the  signs  of  God's 
Goodness,  and  '  pondering  these  things,'  and  so  coming  to  '  understand 
the  Loving-kindness  of  the  Lord,'  it  has  pleased  our  Blessed  Lord  to  order 
and  appoint  a  special  outward  sign,  to  confirm  the  mercies  of  our  God  to  us. 
In  Baptism  a  gracious  pledge  is  made  to  us,  a  right  is  given  to  us,  that  we 
may  humbly  claim  a  share  in  Christ's  Life  and  Death,  His  Body  and  His 

*  See  "  Sermon  on  tlie  Eucharist"  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 


CHAP.  VI.  1 — 4.  123 

Blood,  at  all  times,  as  our  Father's  own  free  gift  of  grace  to  us.  Hence  it 
is  said  in  the  Catechism,  that  the  '  inward  spiritual  grace '  is  given  to  us  in 
either  Sacrament,  because  it  is  then  and  there  set  forth  and  formally 
pledged,  signed,  sealed,  and,  as  it  were,  made  over  to  us. 

Let  us  imagine  that  an  earthly  parent  were  to  take  and  train  among  his 
own  children,  the  child  of  another,  perhaps,  of  some  poorer  family,  and, 
on  a  certain  day,  were  to  go  through  a  formal  process  of  adoption,  and 
inake  it  his  child.  He  may  not  change  in  the  least,  after  that  hour,  his 
ov/n  bearing  towards  the  child.  He  may  treat  it,  after  this  formal  adop- 
tion, with  just  the  same  kindness  as  before.  The  child  may  perceive  no 
difference  whatever  in  his  dealings  with  it,  except  that,  as  it  grows  in  years, 
it  will  begin  more  and  more  to  understand  and  appreciate  his  love.  In 
that  love  it  may  really  have  been  as  secure  (excepting  human  accidents) 
before  the  adoption  as  after  it.  But  here  is  the  difference.  The  father 
has  now  put  it  out  of  his  power  to  change  his  purpose  towards  the  child, 
and  the  child  knows  this.  He  has  given  it  two  things  now  to  trust  in,  his 
love  so  long  experienced  in  the  past,  and  his  actual  pledged  promise  for 
the  future.  Whereas,  when  it  had  done  wrong  at  any  time,  a  fear  might 
have  entered  its  bosom,  that,  after  all,  it  might  be  sent  away  for  its  faults 
to  its  want  and  wretchedness  again,  and  cut  off  from  the  family  which  it 
dishonoured,  now  the  father,  out  of  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  has  given  an 
assurance  that  this  will  never  be.  It  may  stray  from  its  path  of  duty,  and 
for  a  while,  it  may  be,  absent  itself  as  a  prodigal  from  its  home.  It  may 
even,  in  its  madness  of  folly,  renounce  its  claim  upon  the  father's  love. 
But  he  will  ever  reckon  it  as  a  child  of  the  house ;  he  will  ever  be  ready  to 
give  it  its  place  in  his  heart.  He  will  chasten  it,  as  a  child,  it  may  be ;  or 
he  will  go  out  and  meet  it,  if  need  be,  in  after  days,  and  fall  upon  its  neck 
with  tears  and  kisses,  when  he  sees  it  returning  in  penitence,  should  it 
ever,  in  its  wild  self-will,  have  wandered  away  to  the  far-off  land.  But  he 
will  never  forsake  it.  He  has,  in  this  formal  act  of  adoption,  declared  the 
long-settled  purpose  of  his  heart.  He  has  made  it  his  child ;  and,  as  a 
child,  it  shall  ever  receive  at  his  hands,  notwithstanding  all  its  faults,  a 
father's  tender  pity,  forgiveness,  and  love. 

Just  so  our  Heavenly  Father's  Love  towards  us  does  not  depend  upon 
our  being  baptized  or  not.  Our  baptism  does  but  declare  it,  and  assure  it 
to  us.  It  assures,  and  by  His  own  gracious  kindness,  pledges  his  faithful- 
ness to  us,  that  vve  are,  in  very  deed  and  truth.  His  children,  that  He  has  a 
Father's  heart  towards  us.  '  Being  willing  more  abundantly  to  show  unto 
us  the  immutability  of  His  Counsel,'  He  confirms  the  secret  purpose  of  His 
heart  towards  us  by  this  outward  sign.  He  makes  us,  adopts  us,  to  be  His 
children  in  Baptism ;  and  gives  us  the  right  henceforward  to  claim  with 


124  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

humble  reverence  a  Father's  tender  pity  and  forgiveness  at  His  Hands. 
The  '  rain  from  heaven  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our  hearts  with  food  and 
gladness,' — all  good  and  beautiful  and  blessed  things  around  us, — the  way- 
side flowers  and  the  woods  '  so  full  of  song,' — -all  these  have  power  to  wit- 
ness of  our  Father's  Love  to  us,  to  say  to  us,  'Rejoice!  Rejoice!'  If 
we  had  no  other  ground  of  hope  vouchsafed  to  us,  a  wise  and  pious  heart 
might  have  reasoned,  by  '  pondering  these  things,'  that  they  were  tokens 
of  a  deeper  mystery,  'outward  and  visible  signs'  of  some  most  precious 
'  inward  spiritual  grace,'  bestowed  upon  the  children  of  men  by  their  Cre- 
ator. They  might  have  been — these  common  things  beside  our  daily 
pathway — a  sign  to  us  of  our  Father's  Love,  of  which  the  seal  is  the  work 
of  His  Spirit  on  our  hearts,  and  on  the  hearts  of  all  men.  But  our  Bap- 
tism is  the  sign  which  Christ  Himself  has  ordained  to  assure  us  of  this, 
to  confirm  the  testimony  of  all  the  glad  tones  of  nature,  to  explain  her 
more  sad  and  sorrowful  utterances.  Our  Baptism  becomes  thus  a  glorious 
reality, — not  to  separate  us  from  our  fellow-men,  as  if  we  were  any  better 
or  safer  than  they,  under  one  Father  who  loves  us  all, — but  to  rouse  us  up 
to  earnest  action  in  our  daily  paths  of  duty  before  Him,  assured,  as  we  are, 
ourselves,  of  His  Love.  Having  now  no  fear  of  death,  having  paid  the 
death  already  in  our  Lord  which  Sin,  the  tyrant,  could  have  claimed,  hav- 
ing '  died  unto  Sin '  when  He  died, — and  having  also  the  joyous  gift  of  a 
new  life,  because  our  Lord  lives, — we  are  to  go  forth  in  the  confidence 
that  all  men  everywhere  are  sharing  these  blessings,  though  as  yet  they 
may  not  be  privileged  to  know  it — honouring  our  brother-men,  whoever 
they  may  be,  as  members  of  the  Great  Human  Family,  whom  God  hath  re- 
deemed for  Himself  in  His  own  dear  Son, — and  longing  and  labouring  to 
tell  them,  in  life  and  act,  in  our  own  persons,  if  we  may,  or  by  helping 
others  in  our  name  to  tell  them,  of  One  Love,  of  which  all  earthly  loves  are 
telling,  of  which  all  precious  thoughts  are  whispering  in  the  very  centre  of 
their  being,  which  embraces  us  all. 

CHAP.  VI.    5—11. 

(5)  For,  if  we  have  become  planted  witli  (Him)  in 
the  likeness  of  His  Death,  so  too  shall  we  he  (in  that) 
of  His  Kesurrection  ;  (6)  Knowing  this,  that  our  old 
man  was  crucified  with  (Him),  so  that  the  body  of  sin 
should  be  destroyed,  that  we  might  no  longer  serve  Sin. 
(7)  For  he,  who  has  died,  has  been  emancipated  from 


CHAP.  VI.  5 — 11.  125 

Sin.  (8)  But,  if  we  died  with  Christy  we  believe  that 
we  shall  also  live  with  Him  ;  (9)  knowing  that  Christ, 
having  been  raised  from  the  dead,  dieth  no  more  ;  death 
hath  no  longer  mastery  over  Him.  (10)  For,  in  that 
He  died,  He  died  unto  Sin  once  for  all ;  but,  in  that 
He  liveth.  He  liveth  unto  God.  (11)  Likewise,  reckon 
ye  also  yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  Sin,  but  living 
unto  God,  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

NOTES. 

181.  V.  5,  so  shall  loe  he  in  that  of  His  Resurrection.  "We  have  here 
again  the  use  of  the  future  tense,  which  we  have  noted  so  often,  and  find 
again  in  verse  8,  '  if  we  died  with  Christ,  we  believe  that  we  shall  also  live 
with  Him ' — implying  that,  though  the  redeiiiption,  which  our  Lord  wrought 
for  us  by  His  Death,  was  wrought  and  completed  at  once,  yet  the  salva- 
tion, which  is  now  being  wrought  out  by  His  Life,  is  a  work  progressing 
continually  unto  completion.  It  is  plain  that  St.  Paul  does  not  mean,  by 
the  words  now  before  us,  that  we  shall  be  like  our  Lord  in  His  Resurrec- 
tion, merely  because  we  shall  be  raised  from  the  dead  at  the  judgment-day ; 
because  in  v.  11  he  bids  us  reckon  ourselves  to  be  7ioio  '  dead  unto  Sin, 
but  '  living  unto  God,'  as  our  Lord  has  once  '  died  unto  Sin,'  but  now,  being 
raised  again,  '  liveth  ever  unto  God.'  What  he  means,  therefore,  is  that 
we  shall  be  '  planted  with '  our  Lord  '  in  the  likeness  of  His  Resurrection,' 
by  having  had  a  new  life  given  us  now,  and  by  that  life  being  continually 
maintained  in  us  by  the  grace  of  God,  after  the  likeness  of  Christ's  Resur- 
rection-Life.    '  The  completion  of  the  promise  is  future ;  but  there  is  an 

approximation  to  it  now The  process  being  gradual,  beginning  as 

soon  as  he  (the  Christian)  receives  any  portion  of  Christ's  Spirit,  advan- 
cing as  he  receives  more,  and  perfected  at  death,  the  language  used  to  de- 
scribe his  state  is  apphcable,  more  or  less  fully,  to  different  stages  of  his 
progress.'  (Vaughan.) 

182.  V.  6.  our  old  man,  the  Adam  man,  that  which  we  should  have 
been  by  nature,  by  our  mere  natural  birth,  if  unredeemed  by  the  grace  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus.  This  '  old  man '  it  is  which  has  '  died  unto  Sin,'  has 
paid  in  Christ  the  death  which  Sin  had  a  right  to  claim — has  been  '  cruci- 
fied with  Christ ' — that  so  the  '  body  of  Sin  should  be  destroyed,'  the  '  body 
of  death,'  as  St.  Paul  calls  it  afterwards — that  body  which  belongs,  as  it 
were,  as  a  slave,  to  Sin,  over  which  Sin  would  have  had  a  right  to  rule, 


126  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

with  which  the  old  man  would  have  done  the  works  of  Sin,  and  earned,  as 
wages,  death,  death  all  along,  death  in  the  doing  of  the  work  and  after  it. 
This  body,  according  to  the  figure  here  employed,  has  been  destroyed  or 
done  away,  in  the  Death  of  Christ.  We  have  no  longer  any  such  body  be- 
longing to  Sin,  wherewith  its  works  can  or  ought  to  be  done.  The  body 
which  we  now  have  is  Christ's  body,  it  belongs  to  Christ,  it  ought  to  be 
used  in  the  service  of  Christ,  by  the  new  man,  with  the  new  life  which  we 
have  given  us,  by  our  participation  in  Christ's  Resurrection-Life.  We  may, 
indeed,  take  our  bodies,  which  belong  to  Christ,  and  use  them  for  Sin,  and 
yield  ourselves  up  again,  body  and  soul,  to  do  the  will  of  the  tyrant.  But 
we  are  bound  not  to  do  so ;  we  are  set  free  from  the  thraldom  of  Sin.  Sin 
has  no  more  any  power  to  claim  dominion  over  us,  to  require  us,  as  its 
slaves,  to  do  its  work  and  die. 

183.  V.  7.  for  he,  who  has  died,  has  been  emancipated  from  Sin.  For 
one  that  has  died,  one  who  has  paid  to  Sin  that  death,  which  it  had  power 
to  claim  of  us  by  our  natural  birth,  has  by  that  act  been  set  free,  eman- 
cipated, from  Sin.  Sin  has  no  more  right  to  have  further  dominion  over 
him,  to  treat  him  as  its  thrall,  its  bond-slave,  any  longer,  or  to  bring  death 
upon  him  any  further. 

184.  V.  7.  It  is  noticeable  that  St.  Paul  in  this  passage  does  not  repre- 
sent the  necessity  of  death,  which  is  a  consequence  of  sin  in  our  nature,  as 
a  doom  which  God  inflicts  upon  the  race — innocent  as  they  must  be,  mul- 
titudes of  them,  babes  and  others,  of  all  wilful  sin.  He  carefully  guards 
his  words  from  this.  It  is  Sin,  the  tyrant,  who  inflicts  it — not  God,  the 
gracious  Father  of  Spirits ;  it  is  '  the  Devil,'  who  '  has  the  power  of  death,* 
who  keeps  '  many  all  their  life-time  subject  to  bondage.' 

Of  course,  this  personification  of  sin  is  but  a  figure  of  speech.  But, 
nevertheless,  it  represents  to  us  a  very  precious  truth.  It  implies  that  the 
death  of  the  human  race  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  sin  in  their  na- 
ture, according  to  the  moral  order  of  the  Universe,  not  a  doom,  which  the 
Great  and  Blessed  God,  who  is  called  in  Scripture  the  '  Faithful  Creator,' 
passes,  as  a  judgment,  upon  His  fallen  creatures,  however  helpless,  and  in- 
nocent of  real  conscious  guilt.  It  implies  that  when  our  Father  permitted 
the  human  race  to  be  propagated,  so  that  it  was  brought,  '  not  willingly, 
but  by  reason  of  Him  who  subjected  it,'  under  the  inevitable  necessity  of 
death,  as  a  sin-tainted  race,  He,  at  the  same  time,  in  his  Eternal  Counsels, 
gave  the  gift  of  new  life  to  us  all.  He  did  away  with  the  curse,  and  con- 
verted that  death,  which  we  must  all  die,  into  a  blessing. 

For  death  in  itself,  as  before  noted,  is  no  sign  of  a  curse.  Death  was 
in  the  world,  for  the  countless  races  of  animals  and  animalcules,  ages  be- 
fore man's  sin.     There  was  no  sign  of  curse  in  their  death.     Nor  would  the 


CHAP.  V.  5—11.  127 

death  of  man  be  attended  with  any  notion  of  a  curse  attached  to  it,  but 
for  the  consciousness  of  sin.  The"  less  we  know  or  think  of  sin,  the  less 
we  dread  death ;  the  more  we  know  and  think  of  sin,  the  more  we  dread 
it,  unless  we  have  the  Light,  of  God's  Love  in  the  Gospel  to  cheer  us.  As 
human  beings,  bound  by  ties  of  tender  affection  to  one  another,  there  is,  of 
course,  connected  with  death,  the  grief  of  separation  from  those  whom  we 
love.  There  is  also,  generally,  the  anticipation,  and  the  actual  sense,  of 
pain  and  physical  distress.  But  the  sense  of  grief  and  pain  is  not  the  sense 
of  a  curse.  And  feelings  of  this  kind  are  often  overpowered  by  nobler 
feelings,  quickened  within  the  hearts  of  men,  even  heathen  men,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  though  untaught,  by  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
truth,  as  we  Christians  know  it,  to  understand  more  fully  the  baneful  na- 
ture of  sin,  and  to  bless  God  for  its  antidote  revealed  in  the  Gospel.  How 
many  thousands  die  on  every  battle-field,  or  in  the  active  discharge  of  life's 
duties  in  every  land,  without  any  dread  of  death,  as  necessarily  coupled 
with  a  curse  !  What  notion  of  a  curse  embittered  the  glorious  hours  of 
those  who  fell,  fighting  for  their  homes  and  their  fatherland,  at  Thermo- 
pylae or  Marathon  ?  So,  then,  the  idea  of  death  is  not  necessarily  connect- 
ed in  the  minds  of  men  with  that  of  a  curse. 

But  then  comes  the  Law,  and  brings  home  to  our  consciences  the  sense 
of  sin,  of  evil  committed,  against  the  light  we  had,  and  our  belter  knowl- 
edge, and  better  resolves,  before  the  Face  of  a  Most  Pure  and  Holy  Being. 
And  the  Devil — the  Slanderer — the  Accuser  of  God  and  of  the  Brethren — 
makes  \ise  of  this  to  fill  our  hearts  with  guilty  fears,  which  keep  us  away 
from  our  Father's  footstool.  He  teaches  us  thus  to  connect  the  idea  of  a 
curse  with  death.  And  many  go  trembling  along  the  path  of  life,  with  the 
gloomy  grave  at  the  end  of  it,  afraid  to  look  the  ghastly  terror  in  the  face. 
And  so  they  turn  their  eyes  ever,  as  it  were,  to  the  ground,  as  they  go,  and 
busy  themselves  closely  with  the  petty  things  of  this  life,  its  business  and 
pleasures,  that  they  may  for  the  present  forget  their  fears,  instead  of  mak- 
ing light  of  death,  as  they  might,  as  they  ought,  and  manfully  pressing  on 
to  do  the  work  of  their  Lord. 

For  how  utterly  unchristian,  how  utterly  contrary  to  the  whole  spirit 
and  letter  of  the  Gospel,  is  this  notion  of  death,  as  something  to  be  dread- 
ed, not  merely  for  the  pain,  or  present  sense  of  separation  from  the  objects 
of  our  love,  which  it  brings  with  it,  but  for  itself,  for  some  idea  of  a  curse 
attending  it,  as  the  carrying  out  of  a  fearful  doom,  a  judgment  from  God, 
which  Adam's  sin  has  brouglit  on  his  race  !  Separations  take  place  con- 
tinually in  families,  lifelong  separations,  for  various  reasons  in  the  common 
path  of  duty,  with  grief  of  heart,  no  doubt,  and  the  dropping  of  natural 
tears  of  pure  affection,  sometimes  with  bitter  pain  and  anguish,  but  yet 


128  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

without  sense  of  awe  or  horror.  Extreme  pain  is  undergone  under  various 
circumstances,  in  the  hospital-ward,  on  the  battle-field,  far  exceeding  in  in- 
tensity that  which  we  see  to  be  generally  connected  with  death.  Often 
such  pain  is  borne  courageously  and  cheerfully,  sometimes  with  fear  and 
shrinking ;  but  there  is  no  sense  of  horror,  no  notion  of  a  curse,  mixed  up 
with  this  fear.  Now,  if  we  read  the  New  Testament  rightly,  we  shall  learn 
to  look  at  the  separation  which  death  brings  with  it,  and  the  pain  which 
may  attend  it,  in  something  of  this  temper.  We  shall  learn  to  look  upon 
death,  as  a  Christian  should  do,  as  St.  Paul  did,  who  takes  but  little  ac- 
count of  it,  and  makes  very  small  provision  in  his  letters  for  the  comfort 
of  bereaved  friends,  and  none  at  all  for  the  dying  Christian  himself,  except 
to  tell  him  that  he  has  fought  the  good  fight,  and  finished  his  course,  and 
may  now  hope  to  enter  into  rest.  Indeed,  we  make  far  too  much  of  death 
in  these  days.  We  crown  him  King  of  Terrors,  when  our  gracious  God 
and  Father  has  bereft  him  of  all  his  power  to  harm  us,  has  deprived  bun 
of  his  sting,  and  made  him  a  messenger  of  grace  to  us. 

Will  it  be  said  that  after  death  still  comes  the  judgment  ?    Why,  yes, 
and  before  death  too.     And  this  is  the  point,  which  we  ought  to  bear  in 
mind,  not  to  prepare  for  death^  but  to  prepare  for  our  Lord's  appearing, 
for  His  coming  to  judge  us,  as   He  may  do  at  any  moment,  as  He  actually 
does,  from  day  to  day,  from  hour  to  hour,  in  the  ordinary  work  of  common 
life,  as  well  as  on  special  great  occasions.     The  reason  why  we  are  so  prone 
to  connect  this  judgment  only  with  death  is  this,  that  we  cannot  conceive 
of  its  actually  taking  place  in  this  blessed  world,  where  on  every  side  we 
find  a  Father's  Love.     And  yet  it  is  really  taking  place  from  day  to  day 
even  here.     A  Father's  Hand  is  blessing   continually,  or  chastening  His 
children.     But  we  feel  as  if  we  shall  then  stand  before  Him  all  alone, 
stripped  of  the  countless  gifts  of  His  Goodness,  which  here  relieve  our 
fears,  and  are  meant  to  do  so  under  the  Gospel  of  His  Grace,  but  which 
are  too  often  perverted  into  reasons  for  sinning  yet  more,  and  turned  into 
lasciviousness.     In  truth,  however,  the  'judgment  after  death'  is  but  the 
carrying  on  of  that  which  is  going  on  in  life, — the  manifestation  of  that 
which  is  now  taking  place,  it  may  be  in  silence  and  secresy, — the  revela- 
tion of  that  Lord,  who  is  even  now,  daily  and  hourly,  taking  account  with 
His  servants.     Those,  who  never  bethink  themselves  now  of  their  Master's 
Presence,  will,  indeed,  then  see  Him,  perhaps,  for  the  first  time,  who  has 
been  with  them,  speaking  in  their  consciences,  observing  and  overruling 
their  doings,  all  along.     And  those,  wlio  have  been  consciously  '  keeping 
back  the   truth   in  unrighteousness,'  all  their  lives  long,  and  have  died, 
hardened  in  impenitence,  may  have  reason  to  dread  death,  because  it  will 
bring  them  face  to  face  with  Him,  whose  Voice  they  have  heard  in  their 


CHAP.  VI.  5 — 11.  129 

hearts,  whose  Light  shone  upon  their  minds,  whose  Love  they  felt  on  every 
side,  and  yet  they  chose  '  the  darkness  rather  than  the  light,  because  their 
deeds  were  evil.'  But  even  to  such  as  these  death  itself  has  no  curse  at- 
tached to  it.  It  is  but  the  gate,  through  which  tbeh*  Lord  and  Master  calls 
them  to  Him,  that  He  may  pass  the  righteous  sentence  of  His  Love  upon 
them — that  is,  that  He,  who  knows  exactly  what  they  are,  in  consequence 
of  what  they  have  done,  may  appoint  for  them  that  lot,  that  degree  of  puri- 
fying chastisement,  which  they  need.  And  this,  indeed,  may  be  something 
fearful  and  terrific,  as  the  needful  rod  is  to  children. 

But  Christians  should  learn  to  make  light  of  death,  as  St.  Paul  did. 
Indeed,  he  tells  us,  '  we  shall  not  all  die.'  And,  as  we  do  not  couple  the 
'  change,'  which,  St.  Paul  says,  will  pass  on  the  bodies  of  some,  by  which 
'  this  corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on 
immortality,'  with  any  notion  of  a  curse  attached  to  it,  so  neither  ought  we 
to  connect  any  such  notion  with  death,  as  it  will  come  to  others.  To  '  die ' 
or  to  '  be  changed,'  it  is  all  one,  it  should  be  all  one,  to  the  Christian. 
How  courageously  and  cheerfully  may  we  go  to  the  duties  of  life,  whatever 
dangers  they  entail  upon  us,  with  this  thought  to  sustain  us,  instead  of 
shrinking  and  weakly  wailing  with  fear  at  the  idea  of  death  !  To  the  frail 
flesh,  indeed,  the  form  of  death  may  be  often  terrible  ;  but  the  thing  itself 
ought  not  to  be  ever  to  the  spirit.  There  are  some,  who  will  say  '  good- 
night '  to  one  another,  and  retire  to  rest,  perhaps  at  early  eve,  perhaps  at 
midnight,  and  who,  on  waking  on  the  glorious  mom,  will  put  on  their  new 
apparel.  There  are  others  who  will  not  go  to  rest  at  all,  but,  having 
watched  all  night,  will  rise  up  at  once  at  the  break  of  '  that  day,'  and  be 
clothed  upon,  and  mortality  be  swallowed  up  at  once  in  life. 

185.  V.  8.  we  shall  also  live  with  Him.  As  noticed  before  (see  note 
181),  the  Apostle  is  not  speaking  here  only  or  chiefly  of  our  living  with 
Christ  hereafter.  He  is  speaking  of  our  living  now  with  Him,  in  the  like- 
ness of  His  Resurrection-Life.  He  is  speaking  of  that  '  life  unto  God,' 
which  is  bestowed  upon  us  as  redeemed  creatures,  together  with  a  '  death 
unto  Sin,'  as  our  portion  in  our  Lord's  own  Life  and  Death,  which  was 
given  us  from  the  first  moment  of  our  existence,  and  of  which  our  Baptism, 
therefore,  is  not  the  efficient  agent,  but  the  declaration,  the  sign  and  seal, 
to  us,  and  withal  '  a  means  of  increasing  it  (Art.  xxvii.)  by  virtue  of  prayer 
to  God.'  The  future  is  used  here,  as  in  181,  and  elsewhere  so  often,  to 
imply  that  for  this  life  we  shall  be  continually  depending,  from  moment  to 
moment,  on  the  Life  of  our  Lord.  The  '  death  unto  Sin '  is  given  us  once 
for  all.  But  the  '  life  unto  Righteousness,'  our  life,  as  members  of  Christ 
our  Great  Head,  as  sharers  in  His  Resurrection-Life,  which  began  with  the 
first  moment  of  our  being,  though  first  formally  given,  assured,  made  over 
6* 


130  EPISTLE   TO   THE   EO]iIANS. 

to  us,  as  God's  blessed  gift  in  our  Baptism,  is  maintained  in  us,  day  by  day, 
and  fihall  be  to  the  end,  by  His  never-failing  Life. 

186.  V.  9.  Christ,  having  been  raised  from  the  dead,  dieth  no  more. 
For  Christ's  Life,  now  that  He  is  raised  from  the  dead,  we  know,  will  not 
be  yielded  up  again.  He  has  paid  to  Sin  that  hfe,  which  He  took  as  a 
human  being.  He  died,  as  His  Father  willed  it,  as  if  He  too  had  sin  in  His 
nature,  like  any  one  of  the  children  of  men.  And  so  was  His  brotherhood 
with  them  completely  exhibited  ;  '  He  was  made  perfect,'  as  their  Head, 
'  through  suffering.'  And  now  He  will  die  no  more  for  ever  :  death  has 
no  more  any  power  over  Him.  He  '  died  unto  Sin,'  He  paid  the  claim  of 
Sin,  '  once  for  all ; '  and  now  '  He  liveth  unto  God.'  And,  therefore,  that 
'  life  unto  righteousness '  which  we  have  all  received — which  is  as  much  a 
part  of  our  inheritance,  as  human  beings,  from  the  Second  Adam,  as  the 
sin  in  our  nature  was  from  the  First, — that  life  will  also  be  permanent. 
We  are  to  reckon  ourselves  as  '  dead  to  Sin,'  as  having  died  unto  Sin,  hav- 
ing paid  to  Sin,  in  our  Lord's  Death,  that  death,  which  the  tyrant  had  a 
right  to  exact  from  us,  '  but  living  unto  God  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.' 

CHAP.  VI.   12—14. 

(12)  Let  not  sin,  therefore,  reign  in  your  mortal 
body,  unto  obedience  to  it  (Sin)  in  the  desires  of  it  (the 
body)  ;  (13)  Nor  do  you  surrender  your  members  unto 
Sin  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness.  But  surrender 
yourselves  unto  God,  as  alive  from  being  dead,  and 
your  members  unto  God,  as  instruments  of  righteous- 
ness. (14)  For  Sin  shall  not  have  lordship  over  you ; 
for  you  are  not  under  law,  but  under  grace. 

NOTES. 

187.  V.  12.  let  not  Sin,  therefore,  reign  in  your  mortal  body,  <tc. 
And  what  is  the  direct  inference  from  all  that  has  been  said  ?  Why,  surely 
this.  Let  not  Sin  reign,  lord  it,  as  if  it  had  any  right  to  do  so,  in  your 
mortal  body,  so  that  you  should  obey  Sin  in  your  natural  bodily  desires. 
Sin  is  there,  no  doubt ;  it  is  there  in  your  nature  :  it  will  pretend  to  have 
a  power  over  you,  to  have  a  power  and  a  right  to  make  you  do  its  work 
with  your  bodily  members,  and  receive,  of  course,  its  wages,  death.  And, 
so  long  as  you  continue  in  this  '  mortal  body,'  thus  it  will  ever  be.  Sin 
will  take  occasion  by  the  desires  of  the  body,  its  natural  desires,  to  lord  it 


CHAP.  VI.  12—14.  131 

over  you,  and  keep  you  in  subjection,  and  treat  you  as  its  slaves.  But  do 
you  boldly  deny  its  claim.  Do  not  allow  it  to  play  the  king  over  you,  and 
'  reign  iu  your  moi-tal  body,'  so  that  you  should  willingly  comply  with  it  in 
regard  to  the  body's  desires.  Your  body,  though  mortal,  is  no  more  a 
'  body  of  Sin  ; '  it  no  longer  belongs  to  Sin  ;  it  belongs  to  Christ.  As  a 
'  body  of  Sin,'  it  is  dead,  through  your  share  in  Christ's  death.  It  is  now  a 
body  of  righteousness,  wherewith  you  may  present  daily  unto  God  a  '  living 
sacrifice,  which  is  your  reasonable  service.'  Therefore,  though  Sin  may  vex 
you  by  its  assertions  of  sovereignty,  and  now  and  then,  perhaps,  get  the 
better  of  you  for  a  season,  yet  do  not  let  it  '  reign,'  '  do  not  fulfil  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh.' 

188.  V.  13.  nor  do  you  surrender  your  members  unto  Sin ^  d:c.  Do  not 
habitually  yield  up  to  Sin,  as  your  lord,  those  bodily  members  of  yours, 
that  they  may  do  its  work  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness.  But  yield 
yourselves  unto  God,  as  men  who  have  died,  but  are  alive, — who  died  unto 
Sin,  when  Christ  died,  but  are  now  living  unto  God,  because  Christ  lives, 
— and  yield  your  bodily  members  unto  God  to  do  His  work  as  instruments 
of  righteousness.  It  is  noticeable  that  the  Greek  word,  which  means  '  sur- 
render,' or  '  yield  up,'  and  which  occurs  twice  in  the  above  passage,  is  in 
the  first  instance  used  in  the  Present  Tense,  implying  the  easy  habitual 
yielding,  day  by  day,  to  the  impulses  of  sin,  as  they  prompt  to  evil,  in  the 
natural  desires  of  the  body  ;  whereas,  in  the  second  instance,  it  is  used  in 
the  Aorist,  implying  the  vigour,  energy,  decision,  with  which  we  must  re- 
solve that  this  vile  tyrant,  who  falsely  claims  from  time  to  time  to  have 
power  over  us,  shall  not  be  obeyed  at  such  times,  shall  not  be  allowed  the 
use  of  our  bodily  members  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness. 

189.  V.  14.  for  Sin  shall  not  have  lordship  over  you,  de.  Sin  shall 
not  have  power  to  exercise  lordship  over  you  as  its  slaves,  to  treat  you  as 
such,  and  work  its  work  of  death  upon  you :  for  you  are  not  slaves  of  Sin, 
but  servants  of  Christ.  Nay,  however  a  man  may  choose  in  his  corrupt 
heart  to  do  the  works  of  the  flesh,  and  to  serve  Sin  as  a  slave,  instead  of 
serving  the  Gracious  Lord  who  bought  him,  yet  for  all  that  he  is  not  really 
a  slave  of  Sin,  his  body  is  not  really  a  '  body  of  Sin,'  a  body  belonging,  as 
a  thrall,  to  Sin.  He  has  been  '  bought  with  a  price.'  He  belongs  to  the 
one  true  and  only  Lord  of  the  children  of  men,  and  He  will  deal  with  His 
unfaithful  servant  as  He  sees  best.  Sin  shall  not  have  lordship  over  him — 
the  right  to  treat  him  as  its  slave,  the  right  to  dispose  of  him,  and  work 
out  its  work  of  death  upon  him.  The  true  Lord  of  that  servant  shall  call 
for  him,  and  reckon  with  him,  and  appoint  him  his  portion  as  He  sees 
right, — perhaps  to  be  chastised  and  corrected  by  being  cast  into  the  outer 
darkness,  '  where  is  the  weeping,  and  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth.' 


132  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMAl^^S. 

But  to  each  faithful  soul,  using  still  this  metaphor,  the  Apostle  would 
say :  '  Though  you  are  conscious  of  Sin  within  you,  of  Sin  in  your  nature, 
tempting  you  from  time  to  time  in  the  natural  desires  of  the  body,  trying 
to  bring  you  into  bondage — and  though  you  are  conscious  also,  not  only  of 
these  impulses  to  evil,  but  of  times  also  when  you  have  yielded  to  the  im- 
pulse, of  sinful  thoughts  and  words  and  acts,  enough  to  darken  all  the  joy 
of  your  spirit's  life,  to  bring  you  under  the  heavy  judgment  of  the  law,  and 
force  you  to  cry  out  against  yourself,  '  Unclean  !  Unclean  ! ' — yet  fear  not, 
my  brother ;  remember  that,  for  all  that,  you  are  not  a  slave  of  Sin,  but  a 
servant  of  Christ,  and  a  child  of  God ;  you  are  not  under  the  Law,  but 
under  Grace — under  Mercy  and  Love,  forgiving  and  embracing  you.  When 
Sin,  as  it  were,  is  dragging  you  away  in  its  clutches,  conscious  of  the  past 
evil  you  have  done,  of  the  miserable  weakness  by  which  you  have  yielded 
to  temptation,  of  the  utter  wretchedness  and  helplessness  of  your  condition, 
— when  the  Slanderer  brings  the  just  and  holy  Law  to  bear  upon  you,  and 
tells  you  that  a  creature  so  impure  and  defiled,  so  enslaved,  as  it  would 
seem,  in  the  service  of  the  Evil  One,  cannot  ever  hope  to  enter  into  the 
Presence  of  the  Blessed  God,  to  behold  the  Face  of  the  King  afar  off  in  His 
Glory, — then  bethink  you  of  the  birthright  which  belongs  to  you,  '  through 
the  loving-kindness  towards  man  of  God  our  Saviour ' — your  birthright,  as 
a  man,  fallen,  indeed,  in  Adam,  but  redeemed  in  Christ,  Remember  that 
you  have  no  need  to  lie  thus  bound,  in  the  thraldom  of  Sin.  Sin  has  no 
right  to  claim  this  lordship  over  you.  Take  with  you  words  of  hope,  of 
living  trust  in  your  Father's  Love,  and  say,  "  Sin  shall  not  lord  it  over  me  ; 
for  I  am  not  under  Law,  but  under  Grace,  Let  the  Law  say  what  it  will ; 
it  is  not  for  me ;  it  is  for  '  murderers  and  men-stealers,'  for  all  such  as  '  keep 
back '  wilfuUy  *  the  truth  in  unrighteousness.'  And  that  I  will  do  no 
longer.  In  myself,  I  know,  I  have  no  strength  whatever  to  refuse  the  claim 
of  Sin,  to  resist  its  power.  But  He  still  lives  who  is  our  King  and  Head ; 
and,  because  He  lives,  we  shall  all  live  also.  His  Death  I  have  a  share  in ; 
in  Him  I  have  died  to  sin  ;  and  Sin  cannot  claim  from  me  a  second  death, 
because  of  my  bearing  about  with  me  a  fallen  nature.  His  Life  also  is 
mine  ;  and  the  very  sense,  which  I  have,  of  my  own  sinfulness,  is  a  sign  of 
that  Life  being  even  now  imparted  to  me — is  a  token  that  my  Father  loves 
me,  though  most  unworthy  to  be  loved.  Because  the  Lord  of  man  liveth, 
I  can  refuse,  and  every  man  living  can  refuse,  to  be  the  slave  of  sin,  I  will 
not  let  it  reign  then  in  this  my  mortal  body,  I  will  not  obey  it  in  my 
body's  desires.  Though  I  may  not  be  able,  through  the  weakness  of  the 
flesh  (see  note  195),  perfectly  and  all  at  once  to  do  this,  yet  I  will  renounce 
obedience  to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  I  will  not  fulfil  them." 


CHAP.  VI.  15—20.  133 


CHAP.  YI.    15—20. 

(15)  What  then  ?  Shall  we  sin,  because  we  are  not 
under  Law,  but  under  Grrace  ?  Far  from  it.  (16)  Know 
3^ou  not  that,  to  whom  ye  are  surrendering  yourselves 
slaves  unto  obedience,  slaves  ye  are  to  him  whom  ye 
obey,  whether  of  Sin  unto  death,  or  of  obedience  unto 
righteousness  ?  (17)  But  thanks  be  to  God  that  ye 
were  slaves  of  Sin,  but  ye  obeyed  from  the  heart  the 
form  of  doctrine,  into  which  ye  were  delivered  over ; 
(18)  and,  being  set  free  from  Sin,  ye  were  enslaved  to 
Kighteousness.  (19)  I  mean  what  is  human  (humanly 
possible),  because  of  the  w^eakness  of  the  flesh.  For,  as 
ye  surrendered  your  members  slaves  to  Impurity  and 
Lawlessness  unto  lawlessness,  likewise  now  surrender 
your  members  slaves  to  Eighteousness  unto  sanctifica- 
tion.  (20)  For  when  ye  were  slaves  to  Sin,  ye  were 
free  from  Kighteousness. 

NOTES. 

190.  V.  15.  What  then?  Shall  we  sin,  because  we  are  not  tmder  Law, 
hut  under  Grace  ?  Shall  we  thus  turn  the  loving  mercy  of  our  God  into 
an  excuse  for  lasciviousness,  living  loosely  and  carelessly,  because  the 
judgment  of  the  Law  is  no  longer  to  be  dreaded,  because  we  know  that 
we  are  children  of  the  House,  and  have  a  place,  all  unworthy  as  we  are  to 
have  it,  in  the  heart  of  our  Heavenly  Father  ?     God  forbid  ! 

191.  V.  16.  Know  you  not  that,  &c.  Do  you  not  perceive  that  who- 
ever gives  himself  up  to  do  the  work  of  any  master,  as  an  obedient  slave, 
is  practically  the  slave  of  that  Master,  whatever  he  may  call  himself,  what- 
ever he  may  have  a  right  to  call  himself?  And,  remember,  all  that  can 
result  from  being  '  a  slave  of  Sin,'  from  '  keeping  back  the  truth  in  in- 
iquity,' is  death — a  gloomy  sense  of  guilt  and  unrighteousness,  a  gradual 
darkening  of  the  mind,  and  hardening  and  deadening  of  the  heart,  a  deep- 
ening consciousness  of  separation  from  the  Holy  and  Blessed  One,  the 
Fountain  of  all  Light  and  Life  to  His  Creatures ;  whereas  the  result  of 


134  EPISTLE   TO    THE    ROMANS. 

'  obedience  '  to  the  truth,  which  God  has  revealed  to  you,  whether  bv  the 
written  word  or  by  the  secret  teaching  of  His  Spirit,  the  '  end  of  walking 
in  the  Light  as  He  is  in  the  Light,'  is  'Righteousness' — the  realisation  and 
enjoyment  of  that  gift  of  righteousness,  which  is  yours  as  redeemed  crea- 
tures, a  sense  of  fellowship  with  God,  a  cheerful,  happy  freedom  of  the 
soul,  in  the  enjoyment  of  His  favour,  as  righteous  creatures,  as  children 
of  His  Love. 

192.  V.  17.  thanks  be  to  God  that  ye  were  slaves  of  Sin,  d:c.  'There 
was  a  time,  indeed,  when  you  did  thus  surrender  yourselves  to  be,  prac- 
tically, the  slaves  of  Sin,  and  yielded  up  your  members  to  do  its  will.'  The 
Apostle  is,  of  course,  not  speaking  of  all  among  them,  but  is  speaking 
generally  of  what  would  have  been  the  case  with  many  of  his  readers,  be- 
fore their  conversion  from  a  state  of  heathenism.  When  writing  to  the 
Corinthians,  (although  the  Church  of  Corinth  was  in  a  very  defective  state 
at  the  time  he  wrote,)  he  says  only,  speaking  of  the  corruptions  of  their 
former  heathen  state,  '  And  such  were  some  of  you.'  So  here,  speaking 
generally,  he  says,  '  Once,  in  the  days  of  your  heathenism,  you  did  yield 
yourselves  up  to  that  hateful  tyrant  to  do  his  will.  But,  thanks  be  to  God ! 
you  obeyed  from  the  heart,  with  sincerity  of  purpose,  however  imperfectly 
through  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  the  form  of  doctrine  into  which  you 
were  delivered  over.'  And  here,  too,  he  is,  no  doubt,  speaking  charitably 
of  them  all,  in  the  fervour  of  his  love  to  them.,  speaking  what  he  could  not 
know,  but  what  he  hoped  and  believed  of  them  all. 

193.  V.  17.  2/ow  obeyed  from  the  heart  the  form  of  doctrine  into  ivhich 
you  ivere  delivered  over.  What  form  of  doctrine  was  this  y  He  cannot  be 
speaking  of  the  pure  Christian  doctrine,  into  which  the  converts  from  hea- 
thenism at  Rome  had  not  yet  been  '  delivered  over,'  as  appears  plainly 
enough  from  all  that  he  has  been  writing,  and  all  that  he  has  still  to  write. 
He  must  mean  that  Jewish  doctrine,  which  they  had  imbibed  at  first,  and 
afterwards  mixed  with  a  certain  infusion  of  Christianity.  This  Jewish 
training  had  taught  them  many  precious  lessons,  though  mixed  with  many 
fables  and  corruptions  of  the  truth.  But  they  had  '  obeyed  it  from  the 
heart.'  They  had  renounced  their  idolatrous  rites  and  vicious  practices, 
and,  in  obedience  to  the  truth  which  had  reached  their  hearts,  they  had 
earnestly  striven  to  lead  a  new  life,  as  became  the  servants  of  Jehovah. 
They  were  not  of  the  number  of  those,  who  '  kept  back  the  truth  in  ini- 
quity,' or  to  whom  the  severe  language  of  the  Apostle,  in  various  parts  of 
the  epistle,  is  meant  directly  to  apply ;  though,  indirectly,  he  does  desire 
to  warn  them  agamst  those  fatal  errors,  into  which  the  most  pious  of  them 
might  be  easily  drawn,  by  the  example  of  the  true-born  Jews,  with  whom 
they  were  daily  associating.     For  their  ready  obedience  to  the  truth,  a3 


CHAP.  VI.  15—20.  135 

hitherto  brought  home  to  their  consciences,  tlie  Apostle  gives  thanlvs. 
They  had  done  their  best  with  the  light  which  God  had  given  them.  And 
the  time  was  now  come  for  a  fuller  stream  of  Divine  Illumination  to  be 
poured  upon  tlieir  eyes. 

"'You  readily  obeyed  the  mould  into  which  jon  were  poured,  as  it 
were,  like  soft,  ductile,  and  fluent  metal,  in  order  to  be  cast  and  take  its 
form.  You  obeyed  the  mould,  you  were  not  rigid  and  obstinate,  but  were 
plastic  and  pliant,  and  assumed  it  readily.'  The  metaphor  suggested  itself 
to  the  Apostle  in  the  city  of  Corinth,  where  he  was  writing,  which  was  fa- 
mous for  casting  statues  in  bronze."     Wordsworth. 

The  use  of  the  Greek  Aorist  in  this  verse  and  the  next  shows  that  the 
Apostle  is  referring  to  a  single  act,  to  the  decisive  action  which  they  took 
at  the  time  of  their  conversion,  or,  perhaps,  to  separate  acts,  by  which 
they  had  embraced,  from  time  to  time,  the  truth,  as  it  more  fully  reached 
them. 

194.  v.  18.  and  being  set  free  from  Sin,  ye  were  enslaved  to  Righteous- 
ness.  When  the  word  of  God's  truth  and  grace  had  come  home  to  you, 
and  you  believed  and  obeyed  it,  you  refused  to  be  any  longer  the  slaves  of 
Sin ;  you  felt  that  Sin  was  not  to  be  your  lord,  that  you  were  set  free  from 
its  tyranny,  that  you  were  no  longer  obliged  to  obey  it,  nor  compelled  to 
yield  up  your  members  to  do  its  work ;  and  with  a  willing  heart  you 
yielded  up  yourselves  and  your  members  as  '  slaves  unto  Righteousness.' 

It  might  seem,  at  first  sight,  that  he  is  using  here  the  word  '  Righteous- 
ness '  in  a  different  sense  from  that  in  which  he  has  employed  it  all  along, 
if  we  judge  merely  from  the  words  with  which  he  contrasts  it.  Thus  in  v. 
16  it  is  opposed  to  '  death,'  in  vv.  18  and  20  to  '  Sin,'  and  in  v.  19  to  '  im- 
purity and  lawlessness,'  which  may  be  considered  as  another  amplified  ex- 
pression for  Sin.  These  variations  might,  of  course,  be  explained  by  the 
fact  that  St.  Paul  couples  closely  in  his  mind  the  idea  of  si7i  with  that  of 
death,  and  the  idea  of  righteousness  (uprightness,  goodness)  with  that  of 
life,  and  opposes  the  one  set  of  ideas  to  the  others.  But,  on  closer  con- 
sideration it  will  appear  that  he  is  not  using  the  word  here  in  this  sense,  as 
directly  antithetical  to  '  sin,'  but  in  that  sense  in  which  he  has  been  using 
it  all  along,  namely,  to  express  '  God's  gift  of  righteousness,'  the  righteous- 
ness which  God  gives  in  His  Son,  which  being  a  gift  of  life,  (a  'justification 
of  life,'  as  he  calls  it,)  he  employs  as  antithetical  to  sin  and  death,  suffi- 
ciently so,  at  least,  for  the  apostle's  manner  of  writing.  That  this  latter, 
though  not  the  most  obvious,  is  the  true  interpretation  of  St.  Paul's  mean- 
ing in  this  passage,  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  the  language  which  he  uses 
afterwards  in  x.  3, — '  seeking  to  establish  their  own  righteousness,  they 
were  not  subjected  unto    God's  Righteousjiess,^ — where   the   expression, 


136  EPISTLE   TO    THE    ROMANS. 

'  God's  Righteousness,'  is,  evidently,  the  same  which  he  has  been  repeating 
all  along.  Here,  then,  God's  Righteousness  is  personified  as  a  lord  or 
master,  just  as  in  the  passage  now  before  us.  And  the  phrase,  'subjected 
unto  God's  Righteousness,  esactly  corresponds  with  that  here  used,  '  en- 
slaved unto  Righteousness,'  which  expression  he  changes,  in  v.  22,  into 
'  enslaved  unto  God.' 

195.  V.  19.  I  mean  what  is  human^  because  of  the  mjirmity  of  your 
fesh.  When  I  say  you  became  '  enslaved  to  righteousness,'  I  mean  '  hu- 
manly speaking,'  with  such  allowance  as  human  weakness,  the  weakness  of 
your  flesh,  must  call  for.  I  know  you  cannot,  as  fallen  creatures,  in  your 
present  state  of  being,  perfectly  fulfil  the  will  of  your  rightful  Master. 
The  things  that  you  would,  I  know  by  my  own  experience,  you  often  do 
not,  and  you  do  the  things  you  would  not.  Though  washed  by  God's 
grace,  and  cleansed  from  the  pollution  of  your  former  servitude,  you  will 
still  have  daily  to  '  wash  your  feet,'  and  confess  before  God  the  faults  of 
which  you  are  daily  conscious.  But  you  obeyed  the  truth,  as  you  came  to 
know  it,  with  the  heart,  with  sincerity  of  purpose  and  a  single  eye.  You 
come  now  to  the  light  continually,  that  all  the  remainder  of  corruption  may 
be  purged  out  of  you,  and  all  your  deeds  be  '  made  manifest,  that  they 
are  wrought  in  God.' 

196.  V.  19.  for^  as  ye  surrendered  your  members,  6:c.  '  Without  mean- 
ing, then,  that  you  can  perfectly  do  this,  yet,  as  you  once  gave  up  your- 
selves heartily  to  be  the  willivg  slaves  of  Sin,  yielding  your  members  up  to 
impurity  and  lawlessness,  so  as  to  become  each  day  more  lawless  and  im- 
pure in  heart,  so  now  give  up  yourselves  heartily,  with  the  like  ready  zeal, 
to  be  the  willing  slaves  of  Righteousness,  and  grow  thereby  each  day  in 
holiness.' 

197.  V.  20.  for,  when  ye  were  slaves  of  Sin,  ye  were  free  from  Right- 
eousness, that  is,  free  with  respect  to  Righteousness.  '  For,  of  course,  you 
could  not  serve  two  Masters  at  once.  While  you  were  willing  servants  of 
Sin,  and  therefore  practically  its  slaves,  you  could  not  be  servants  of  God 
and  His  gift  of  Righteousness  ;  you  were  renouncing  the  grace  of  God  as 
your  Master,  and  repudiating  its  claim  to  rule  you,  as  one  of  God's  family 
and  household.' 

CHAP.  YI.   21—23. 

(21)  What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those  things,  at 
which  you  are  now  ashamed  ?  For  the  end  of  those 
things  is  death.  (22)  But  now,  being  freed  from  Sin, 
and  enslaved  unto  God,  ye  have  your  fruit  unto  holi- 


CHAP.  VI.  21—23.  137 

ness,  and  the  end  (is)  Eternal  Life.  (23)  For  the 
wages  of  sin  is  death ;  hut  the  free  gift  of  God  is 
Eternal  Life,  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

NOTES. 

198.  V.  21.  Wliat  fruit  had  ye  then,  dx.  All  the  fruit,  all  the  enjoy- 
ment, which  you  had  in  those  days,  in  the  practice  of  those  things,  which 
now  it  shames  you  to  think  of,  could  have  been  only  a  little  guilty  pleasure 
for  a  season.  But  the  end  of  those  things,  that  which  they  were  really 
working  in  you  at  the  time,  that  which  they  result  in  necessarily  by  the 
laws  of  the  moral  universe,  is  death — that  death  which  is  the  opposite  of 
the  Life  Eternal  here  spoken  of,  Eternal,  Spiritual  Death,  the  sense  of  sep- 
aration from  God,  and  from  the  Light  and  Life  and  Joy  of  His  Presence, — 
which  is  the  sure  result  of  wilful,  indulged,  sin  of  any  kind,  and  becomes 
more  dark  and  fearful,  as  the  power  of  evil  over  its  voluntary  slave  be- 
comes daily  more  confirmed. 

199.  v.  22.  but  now,  being  freed  from  Sin,  &c.  '  But  ye  have  shaken 
off  this  accursed  bondage.  You  have  heard  the  message  of  your  Heavenly 
Father,  and  claimed  your  freedom  as  God's  servants,  and  the  hold  of  Sin 
was  loosened  at  once  upon  you,  and  you  ceased  to  be  its  slaves.  And  in 
the  service  of  God  and  His  Righteousness,  under  the  happy  government  of 
His  Free  Gift  of  Grace,  which  binds  you  under  a  law  of  loving  obedience, 
you  find  your  fruit,  your  joy,  in  daily  increasing  holiness  of  heart  and  life. 
You  feel  a  growing  strength  within  you,  a  strength  which  God  gives  you, 
to  do  the  things  you  would,  and  refuse  to  do  the  things  you  would  not. 
You  feel  your  peace  grow  deeper  day  by  day ;  and  the  end  of  all,  that 
which  is  being  daily  wrought  in  you,  and  shall  live,  as  the  permanent  result, 
when  time  shall  be  no  longer,  is  Life  Eternal,  that  life  which  is  given  us  in 
Jesus  Christ,  that  we  should  know  Him,  who  is  the  only  true  God,  revealed 
to  us  in  His  Son. 

200.  V.  23.  For  the  wages  of  Sin  is  death  ;  but  the  free  gift  of  God  is 
Lfe  Eternal,  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  The  wages  of  Sin,  that  which  Sin 
will  work  in  you  for  doing  its  will,  is  death.  [Observe  that  here  again,  as 
before  (see  note  184),  the  Apostle  refers  this  death  to  the  accursed  tyrant 
Sin,  and  not  to  the  Gracious  and  Blessed  God.]  But  the  free  gift  of  God, 
that  which  we  do  not  deserve  and  cannot  earn,  by  any  labour  of  ours, — 
(for,  when  we  offer  of  our  best,  we  do  but  offer  that  which  He  gave  us  pure 
and  perfect,  which  we  have  defiled,  more  or  less,  by  our  sinfulness) — that 
which  He  gives  us  of  His  own  gracious  purpose,  out  of  the  overflowing  foun- 
tains of  His  Love, — is  Life  Eternal,  in  His  dear  Son,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 


138  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

CHAP.  VII.    1—4. 

(1)  Do  you  not  know,  brethren,  (for  I  speak  to  men 
knowing  law,)  that  the  law  has  power  over  a  man  so 
long  as  he  iiveth  ?  (2)  The  wife,  for  instance,  is  bound 
by  law  to  her  husband  while  he  lives  ;  but,  if  the  hus- 
band have  died,  she  is  discharged  from  the  law  of  her 
husband.  (3)  So  then,  while  the  husband  lives,  she 
will  be  called  an  adulteress,  if  she  become  another  hus- 
band's ;  but,  if  her  husband  has  died,  she  is  free  from 
the  law,  so  that  she  is  not  an  adulteress,  though  having 
become  another's.  (4)  Just  so,  my  brethren,  you  too 
were  put  to  death  to  the  law  by  the  body  of  Christ,  so 
that  you  should  become  another's,  even  His,  who  was 
raised  from  the  dead,  that  so  we  might  bring  forth  fruit 
unto  Grod. 

NOTES. 

201.  The  Apostle  has  just  been  likening  Sin  to  a  tyrant,  who  lords  it 
over  us  by  nature,  as  if  we  were  its  slaves,  bound  to  do  its  work  and  take 
its  wages.  He  has  taught  us  how,  by  the  death  of  Christ,  we  are  set  free 
from  the  claim  of  that  tyrant,  and  redeemed  for  God's  service,  and  ought 
now  to  render  up  ourselves  in  loving  obedience  to  God's  blessed  will,  and 
we  shall  receive  His  gracious  gift.  Eternal  Life  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 
But  how  does  Sin  get  such  a  power  to  lord  it  over  us  ?  The  strength  of 
sin  is  the  Law.  Sin  has  power  to  enslave,  torment,  and  kill  us,  because 
of  the  existence  of  God's  Holy  Law,  which  pronounces  us  to  be  guilty,  dis- 
obedient creaturesj  as  our  sin-stricken  hearts  too  surely  feel, — which,  with 
its  j)erfect  requirements,  make  demands  upon  us  such  as  we  cannot  fulfil. 
So  the  Devil  drives  us  to  despair.  We  feel  that  we  cannot  '  do  these  things 
and  live  ; '  and  we  are  tempted  to  give  up  the  hopeless  struggle,  and  to  fall 
back  helplessly  into  the  clutches  of  Sin,  to  do  its  hateful  work,  '  curse 
God,  and  die.'  Such  is  the  way  in  which  the  pure  and  holy  law  of  God, 
brought  home  to  the  conscience,  is  used  by  the  Slanderer,  to  work  death  in 
us.  It  is  very  noticeable,  as  before  observed,  that  St.  Paul  does  not  say 
that  the  Law  dooms  us  to  death,  as  the  punishment  of  our  faults.     He  says 


CHAP.  VII.    1 4.  139 

that  Sin  takes  advantage  of  the  existence  of  a  Holy  Law,  to  bring  death 
upon  us,  to  get  us  to  do  its  work  and  so  receive  its  wages.  Death  is  not 
represented  as  the  just  retribution  inflicted  upon  sinners,  by  an  angry  God, 
but  as  the  natural,  inevitable,  consequence  of  their  choosing  to  continue  as 
slaves  of  Sin,  a  consequence  flowing  from  the  necessary  eternal  laws  of  the 
moral  universe. 

The  Apostle  proceeds  to  explain  the  matter  by  the  use  of  another  figure. 
The  Law,  he  says,  was  by  nature  the  husband  of  the  soul :  it  has  a  right,  as 
a  husband,  to  lay  its  commands  upon  us,  and  we  feel  that  we  ought  to  obey 
it ;  for  they  are  holy,  just,  and  good.  But  its  commands  are  impossible  to 
be  obeyed  by  us ;  the  soul  of  man  must  utterly  despair  of  pleasing  its  first 
husband,  the  Law :  it  would  inevitably  fail  in  its  duty,  and  form,  in  its 
madness  and  despair,  a  vile  adulterous  connection  with  Sin,  which  (and  not 
the  blessed  Law  of  God)  will  bring  it  to  ruin,  misery,  and  death.  But  the 
first  husband  of  man's  soul  is  dead,  says  the  Apostle,  which  metaphor,  feel- 
ing it  to  be  not  quite  correct,  he  afterwards  modifies,  (introducing  thereby 
a  little  obscurity  into  his  reasoning,)  and  corrects  it  by  saying  that  the  soul 
itself  has  died  to  its  first  husband.  The  first  life  of  the  soul  came  to  an 
end  when  we  died  in  Christ,  (such  is  the  Apostle's  figure,)  and  the  claim 
of  its  first  husband,  the  Law,  came  then  also  to  an  end.  The  soul  is  now 
married  a  second  time  to  another  Husband,  in  another  life,  in  that  new 
life  which  it  lives,  united  to  Him  whom  God  hath  raised  from  the  dead, 
by  virtue  of  the  share  which  God  has  given  it  in  Christ's  Resurrection- 
Life. 

202.  V.  1.  I  speak  to  men  knowing  law — law  generally,  not  the  Jewish 
law. 

203.  v.  2.  the  wife  is  hoiincl  hy  the  laiv  to  her  husband  while  he  lives. 
The  Apostle's  meaning  is  sufficiently  plain  ;  but  there  is  here  a  little  con- 
fusion in  the  statement  of  his  argument.  He  has  changed,  inadvertently, 
the  line  of  thought,  which  he  was  pursuing  in  the  first  verse.  And  now, 
instead  of  the  person  dying,  and  the  law  losing  its  hold  upon  him,  the  il- 
lustration he  here  gives  is  that  of  the  husband  dying,  and  the  law  so  losing 
its  hold  upon  the  wife.  However,  when  he  comes  to  the  practical  illustra- 
tion, in  verse  4,  he  returns  to  the  original  supposition,  and  represents  to  us 
that  we  have  died,  and  so  are  released  from  the  claim  of  our  former  hus- 
band, the  law,  though  he  is  still  living,  that  we  may  be  married  to  a  new 
husband,  even  Jesus  Christ. 

204.  V.  4.  you  were  put  to  death  to  the  law  by  the  body  of  Christ,  d'c. 
'  By  the  body  of  Christ,'  (in  which  is  implied  all  the  humiliation  connected 
with  His  taking  a  body  in  our  nature,  and  all  the  obedience  which  He 
rendered  in  it,  even  unto  death,)  you  died  ;  you  were  put  to  death  to  your 


140  EPISTLE  TO   THE   ROMANS. 

old  life  when  He  was  given  for  you,  when  He  came  of  His  Father's  will  to 
take  a  human  body,  to  become  a  Son  of  Man,  to  live  and  die  as  a  brother 
of  your  race.  And  now  it  is  your  Father's  Will,  in  thus  giving  His  Son 
for  you,  that  you  should  be  His  henceforward.  He  will  look  upon  you  as 
one  with  Him,  united  to  Him,  married  to  Him,  who  has  not  only  died, 
but  been  raised  from  the  dead  by  the  power  of  God,  that  we  may  all  have 
life  because  He,  our  Head,  lives,  and  by  virtue  of  the  fresh  supplies  of 
life  which  flow  from  this  blessed  union,  may  bring  forth  fruit  abundantly 
to  God. 

CHAP.  VII.   5—6. 

(5)  For,  when  we  were  in  the  flesh,  the  sinful  pas- 
sions, which  were  by  reason  of  the  Law,  wrought  in 
our  members,  so  as  to  bring  forth  fruit  unto  death. 
(6)  But  now  we  were  discharged  from  the  law,  having 
died  to  what  we  were  held  in,  so  that  we  should  serve 
in  newness  of  spirit,  and  not  in  oldness  of  letter. 

NOTES. 

205.  V.  5,  whe7i  we  were  in  the  flesh,  d'c.  While  we  lived  in  the  flesh, 
that  is,  in  our  natural  state,  without  knowledge  and  realisation  of  our  re- 
deemed state,  and  subject,  as  we  felt  ourselves  to  be,  to  that  righteous 
Law,  whose  voice  came  home  with  power  to  our  consciences,  as  holy,  just, 
and  good,  and  so  made  us  aware  to  some  extent  of  our  duty,  and  aware 
also  of  our  delinquency,  the  '  passions  of  sin.  the  sinful  passions,  which 
are  in  us,  in  our  fallen  nature, — which  lie  dormant  until  called  out  into 
energetic  action  by  reason  of  the  existence  of  the  pure  and  holy  Law,  and 
the  sense  we  have  of  its  requirements, — waked  up  into  perverse  opposition 
to  that  which  we  knew  to  be  right,  and  wrought  in  our  members,  as  organs 
or  instruments,  so  that  we  brought  forth  fruit,  not  unto  God,  but  unto  Sin 
and  Death. 

206.  V.  6.  having  died  to  u'hat  we  were  held  in,  to  that  in  which  we 
were  held.  This  is  the  sense  of  the  approved  reading  of  the  original,  in- 
stead of  that  which  is  given  in  the  English  version,  '  that  having  died,  iu 
which  we  were  held.' 

207.  V.  6.  in  newness  of  spirit,  in  newness  of  life,  under  the  gracious 
influence  of  God's  Spirit,  so  that  we  too,  in  spirit,  like  children,  render  a 
loving,  though,  at  the  best,  imperfect  obedience  to  a  Father's  word,  receiv- 


CHAP.  VII.    5 6.  14:1 

ing  life  freely  from  Him,  as  His  own  gracious  gift  to  us,  not  in  the  oldness 
of  the  letter^  as  men  who  have  only  a  code  of  laws  delivered  to  them,  by 
perfect  obedience  to  which  (such  as  they  can  never  render)  they  might  ob- 
tain the  life  which  their  sjiirits  need  and  long  for. 

208.  The  language  of  St.  Paul  in  this  place  throws  light  on  a  very  dif- 
ficult passage  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  ix.  16 — 19.  It  seems  certain 
that  the  Greek  word  in  these  verses  should  be  translated,  not  testarnent, 
as  in  the  English  Version,  but,  as  it  has  been  all  along,  ^  covenant,^  or 
rather  '  disposition,'  '  arrangement,'  in  which  the  one  party  graciously 
promises  to  give,  and  the  other  is  willing  humbly  to  receive.  Now,  in  the 
previous  verse,  the  writer  to  the  Hebrev/s,  (most  probably  St.  Paul  him- 
self, or,  at  all  events,  one  thoroughly  accustomed  to  the  reasoning,  and 
steeped  in  the  spirit,  of  St.  Paul,)  had  been  saying  that  Christ  is  a  '  media- 
tor, or  manager,  of  a  new  arrangemeiit^  that  so,  death  having  taken 
place  for  the  redemption  of  the  transgressions  committed  under  the  first 
arrangement^  we,  who  have  been  called  to  eujoy  the  blessings  of  the  new 
one,  may  receive  the  promise  of  the  eternal  inheritance.'  '  For,'  says  he, 
'  where  there  is  an  arrangement^''  (already  in  existence,  the  '  first  arrange- 
ment,'just  spoken  of,)  there  must  needs  be  reported  the  death  of  him  who 
arranged ; ' — that  is,  before  any  new  arrangement  can  be  made,  it  is  ne- 
cessary that,  in  some  way  or  other,  the  only  party  to  the  first  arrangement, 
who  could  die  to  it,  namely  the  Jewish  believer,  (the  other  party  being  the 
ever-living  God,)  should  die  to  it.  '■For  an  arrangement  is  valid^^  that  is, 
a  new  arrangement  can  be  made  and  take  effect,  '  hi  the  case  ofdeadper- 
sons^'*  with  persons  who  have  died  to  the  old  one ;  '  since  it  has  no  force  at 
all,  while  he,  that  arranged,  liveth,^  while  the  only  party  to  the  first  ar- 
rangement, that  could  die  to  it,  is  still  alive  to  it.  '  Whence  neither  has 
the  first  arrajigement  been  ratified  (the  Greek  word  implies  ratified,  estab- 
lished, as  something  new)  loithout  blood.''  The  first  arrangement  was  to  the 
people  of  Israel  a  new  one,  just  as  the  second  is  to  us.  Christians.  By 
that  they  were  '  called '  to  enjoy  the  blessedness  of  a  covenant -relation 
with  God,  which  other  men  were  not  permitted  to  share  in.  And,  in  order 
to  this,  it  was  necessary  that  they  also  should  have  set  before  them  the 
fact,  that  death  was  necessary  to  get  rid  of  the  claims,  which  the  pure  and 
perfect  Law  had  upon  them  in  a  state  of  nature.  By  the  sacrifices  of  the 
Mosaic  Law  it  was  expressed  continually  that  the  worshippers  had  already 
died  before  God  to  that  Law,  in  the  death  of  Him  who  was  to  come,  but 
was  slain  in  God's  purpose  from  before  the  foundations  of  the  world  :  and 
so  the  Law  had  lost  its  hold  upon  them,  to  judge  and  condemn  them. 


14-2  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 


CHAP.  VII.   7—11. 

(7)  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  Is  the  Law  sin  ? 
Nay,  not  so  !  Yet  I  knew  not  sin,  but  through  Law. 
Desire,  for  instance,  I  knew  not,  but  that  the  Law  said, 
^  Thou  shalt  not  desire.'  (8)  But  Sin,  taking  occasion 
by  means  of  the  Commandment,  wrought  in  me  all' 
manner  of  desire.  (9)  For,  apart  from  Law,  Sin  is 
dead  :  so  I  was  living,  apart  from  Law,  once  ;  but 
when  the  Commandment  came.  Sin  revived,  and  I  . 
died  ;  (10)  and  the  Commandment,  meant  for  life, 
turned  out  to  me,  that  same,  for  death.  (11)  For 
Sin,  taking  occasion,  by  means  of  the  Commandment, 
beguiled  me,  and,  by  means  of  it,  slew  me. 

NOTES. 

209.  V.  7.  2S  the  Law  sin  ?  Do  I  then  make  the  Law  out  to  be  Sin,  by 
thus  coupling  it  with  Sin,  and  representing  tliat,  by  m-eans  of  it,  Sin  works 
its  evil  work  in  us,  and  brings  death  upon  us,  as  the  natural  and  necessary 
consequence,  the  wages,  of  that  work,  which  we  do  as  its  willing  slaves  ? 
Is  it  the  holy  Law  of  God,  which  is  given  for  life,  is  it  God  Himself  our 
Father,  the  giver  of  that  Law,  who  slays  us?  God  forbid  !  It  is  Sin — . 
Sin,  the  hateful  tyrant  and  destroyer — the  Devil,  '  that  hath  the  power  of 
death.'  But,  however,  the  Sin  in  my  nature  would  have  been  dormant, 
would  have  had  no  opportunity  of  exei'ting  its  baneful  activity,  if  there  had 
not  been  Law,  a  holy  and  blessed  Law,  which  it  could  tempt  me  to  depart 
from  and  disobey.  '  I  knew  not  Sin,  but  through  Law,' — either  written  on 
the  heart,  or  revealed  to  the  conscience  in  some  other  way.  St.  Paul  is 
musing,  as  it  were,  within  himself,  and,  by  reciting  his  own  deep  experience,  ^ 
is  telling  that  of  all  earnest  men  in  all  ages,  with  more  or  less  of  truth  and 
actual  resemblance,  according  as  they  have  been  more  or  less  enlightened 

to  see  the  perfect  excellence  of  God's  Law. 

210.  v.  Y.  desire,  evil  desire  of  any  kind,  lust,  concupiscence. 

211.  V.  8.  Sin,  talcing  occasioyi  by  the  Commandment,  iirought  in  me 
all  manner  of  desire.  The  perverse  character  of  the  sin  in  my  nature  was 
shown  by  its  instantly  urging  me  to  desire  what  I  knew  was  wrong  and 


CHAP.  VII.  7—11.  143 

evil ;  it  '  took  occasion,'  by  the  Law  showing  me  what  was  good,  to  stir  up 
in  me  the  desire  to  do  the  very  opposite. 

212.  V.  9.  upart  from  Laii\  Sin  is  dead.  "Where  there  is  ho  law, 
where  there  is  no  consciousness  of  right  or  wrong,  no  sense  of  duty.  Sin 
cannot  act ;  though  it  may  be  there  in  the  nature,  it  cannot  take  effect  in 
the  life,  it  is  practically  dead  (as  in  the  case  of  infants,  insane  per- 
sons, &c.). 

213.  V.  9.  I  teas  living,  apart  from  Law,  once.  Before  the  Law  came 
home  with  power  to  my  heart,  I  was  living ;  I  was  happy  enough  in  my 
ignorance  ;  I  thought  all  was  right  with  me ;  I  was  not  conscious  of  any 
sickness  of  the  soul,  much  less  of  death.  But  this  could  not  last.  The 
time  must  come,  for  every  man,  sooner  or  later,  when  this  state  of  mere 
animal  existence  must  come  to  an  end,  and  he  must  be  wakened  by  the 
living  word  of  God,  '  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to 
the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  dis- 
cerning the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart,' — and  roused  to  a  sense  of 
his  duty,  and  alas  I  of  his  delinquency  also.  The  heathen,  in  their  measure, 
have  this  experience,  as  well  as  others.  But  the  Apostle  is  here  addressing 
himself  to  pious  Jews  and  Jewish  proselytes,  well  trained  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion, and  earnestly  desiring,  as  he  believed,  to  do  the  will  of  God,  and 
live.  He  is  explaining  to  them  the  secret  movements  of  their  own  hearts, 
by  telling  of  his  own  experience  ;  and  in  this  way  also  is  seeking  to  shatter 
their  confidence  in  their  own  meritorious  righteousness,  and  to  lead  them 
on  to  appreciate  more  fully  that  blessed  gift  of  righteousness,  which  our 
Father's  Love  bestows  on  us  in  the  Gospel.  He  is  sure  that  they  too  have 
found  that  they  could  not  secure  the  life,  which  they  longed  for,  by  their 
own  obedience  to  God's  perfect  Law, — that  they  too  must  have  often  felt, 
that,  when  wishing  to  do  good,  evil  was  present  with  them, — that  they 
must  have  been  constrained  at  times  to  cry  out  with  himself,  '  wretched 
man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  this  body  of  death? ' 

214.  V.  9.  when  the  Commandment  came,  Sin  revived,  and  I  died. 
When  the  word  of  God  came  home  to  my  heart,  and  I  saw  with  a  deeper 
insight  what  kind  of  service  the  holy  requirements  of  the  Law  demanded, 
the  evil  in  my  nature  '  revived,'  gained,  as  it  were,  new  life  and  vigour, 
sprung  up  at  once  into  activity.  It  stirred  in  me  all  manner  of  desire  to 
do  what  I  now  knew  to  be  wrong ;  and  so,  doing  evil,  I  became  conscious 
of  a  weight  of  guilt  upon  my  soul,  and  this  sense  of  guilt, — of  the  evil  in 
my  nature,  of  my  inability  to  resist  it,  and  of  the  bitter  consequences  of 
yielding  to  it, — became  ever  more  heavy  upon  me.  Thus  I  felt  more  and 
more  under  the  power  of  Sin.  I  became  its  thrall,  and  groaned  under  its 
horrible  tyranny.     I  felt  that  Sin  was  a  reality,  that  it  had  a  fearful  energy 


144  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

and  vitality,  that  I  was  falling  more  and  more  under  its  power,  that  it  was 
working  in  me  shame,  misery,  and  death ;  '  Sin  revived,  and  I  died.' 

215.  V.  10.  And  the  Commandment^  doc.  Thus  that  very  Command- 
ment, which  was  given  me  for  life,  by  the  opposition  which  my  fleshly 
Adam-nature  roused  to  it,  and  by  the  despair  engendered  through  my 
fruitless  efforts,  by  reason  of  the  sinful  taint  in  my  nature,  to  do  what  I 
knew  to  be  good,  and  eschew  what  I  knew  to  be  evil,  turned  out  to  be  ef- 
fective only  for  producing  death. 

216.  V.  11.  for  Sin,  takmg  occadon  hy  the  Commandment,  beguiled 
me,  and,  hy  means  of  it  sleio  me.  For  Sin,  seeing  that  there  was  a  Com- 
mandment, which  had  come  home  to  my  heart,  so  that  I  knew  what  was 
right  and  good  by  means  of  it,  made  use  of  that  very  knowledge  of  mine 
to  exert  its  abominable  power  upon  me.  Just  as,  in  the  primeval  story  of 
our  race,  the  Serpent  is  represented  as  knowing  that  our  first  parents  had 
a  commandment,  and  were  fully  aware  of  it,  and  beguiling  the  weaker  one 
to  transgress  that  very  commandment,  bringing  death  upon  them  both 
thereby,  so  the  Sin  in  my  nature  beguiled  me  to  transgress  that  very  will 
of  God,  which  my  conscience  knew  of, — it  told  me,  as  the  serpent  told 
Eve,  that  I  should  not  surely  die  for  committing  this  one  act  of  disobe- 
dience, that  I  should  gain  some  immediate  pleasure  and  benefit  from  it, — 
and  so  it  brought  death  upon  me,  a  sense  of  shame  and  uneasiness,  a  sense 
of  separation  from  God,  a  sense  of  gloom  and  guiltiness,  increasing  and 
deepening  ever  more  and  more,  with  each  fresh  act  which  I  wrought  in 
that  accursed  slavery. 

Notice  again  that  it  is  not  the  Blessed  Law  that  kills,  but  Sin,  that  takes 
occasion  by  the  Commandment,  and,  by  means  of  it,  slays  us. 

CHAP.  YII.    12—20. 

(12)  So  then  the  Law  is  holy,  and  the  Command- 
ment  holy,  and  just,  and  good.  (13)  Has  then  that 
which  is  good  become  to  me  death  ?  Nay,  not  so  ! 
But  Sin,  so  as  to  appear  Sin,  by  means  of  that  which 
is  good,  working  out  death,  so  that  Sin  might,  by 
means  of  the  Commandment,  become  exceedingly  sin- 
ful. (14)  For  we  know  that  the  Law  is  spiritual ;  but 
I  am  fleshly,  sold  under  Sin.  (15)  For,  what  I  work 
out,  I  do  not  allow  ;   for  not,  what  I  will,  that  do  I, 


CHAP.  vn.  12—20.  145 

but,  what  I  hate,  that  do  I.  (16)  But  if,  what  I  will 
not,  that  I  do,  I  agree  to  the  Law  that  it  is  good. 
(17)  But  now  no  longer  I  work  it  out,  hut  Sin  dwell- 
ing in  me.  (18)  For  I  know  that  there  dwelleth  not 
in  me,  that  is  in  my  flesh,  anything  good  ;  for  to  will 
is  present  to  me,  but  to  work  out  what  is  beautiful,  I 
find  not.  (19)  For  the  good,  which  I  will,  I  do  not ; 
but  the  evil,  which  I  will  not,  that  I  do.  (20)  But, 
if  I  do  that  which  I  will  not,  it  is  no  longer  I  that 
work  it  out,  but  Sin  dwelling  in  me. 

NOTES. 

217.  V.  13.  So  as  to  appear  Sin,  so  as  to  appear  in  its  true  character 
as  Sin,  so  as  to  exhibit  its  true  nature  of  perverse  wilfulness,  so  as  to  show 
itself,  by  making  use  of  a  blessed  commandment,  to  be  Sin  in  very  deed 
and  truth,  '  exceedingly  sinful.' 

218.  V.  14.  We  knoiv  that  the  Law  is  Spiritual.  The  Law  is  '  spiri- 
tual ; '  it  has  to  do  with  the  spirit  of  man,  and  with  those  things  which  be- 
long to  the  spirit,  with  righteousness,  and  purity,  and  truth,  and  love.  It 
requires  also  this  spirit  in  man,  endowed  with  the  proper  faculty  for  re- 
ceiving its  admonitions,  who  shall  attend  and  give  heed  to  its  teachings, 
and  by  whose  instructions,  as  it  were,  man's  will  shall  be  directed,  and  by 
whose  living  force,  derived  from  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus,  the  man 
shall  be  enabled  to  keep  the  body  in  subjection  to  the  Law  of  God,  its 
Maker.  Now  this  spirit  in  man  is  breathed  into  us,  with  the  first  breath 
of  new  life,  which  the  Spirit  of  God  imparts  to  us  all,  as  redeemed 
creatures.  It  is  the  gift  of  life,  which  is  given  us  in  Christ  Jesus.  All  the 
sense,  which  we  have,  of  the  'beauty  of  holiness,' — all  admiration,  and 
secret  love,  in  our  very  heart  of  hearts,  of  that  which  is  '  good,  and  true, 
and  just,  and  pure,  and  lovely,  and  of  good  report,'  even  while  we  may 
perversely  be  choosing  and  practising  the  opposite, — we  have  because  of 
the  existence  of  this  spirit  in  us,  because  we  are  spiritual  beings,  because 
we  have  had  this  spiritual  life  quickened  in  us,  by  our  Father's  grace,  by 
virtue  of  our  relation  to  our  Head.  All  men,  then,  have  this  spirit,  this 
spiritual  life,  though  all  men  may  not  realise  it  to  themselves  nor  exhibit 
it  to  others.  In  some  it  may  be  as  yet  undeveloped,  as  in  infants, — in 
others,  suspended,  disenabled  or  suppressed,  as  in  persons  asleep,  insen- 

7 


146  EPISTLE  TO   THE   KOMAlfS. 

sible,  or  insane,  in  whom  the  spirit  is  unable  to  act  upon  the  will  in  a  con- 
sistent and  normal  manner,  because  of  some  defective  physical  arrange- 
ments. So  too,  in  persons  such  as  St.  Paul,  when  he  was  '  living,  apart 
from  the  Law  once,'  as  yet  not  thoroughly  quickened  by  the  word  of  God 
coming  home  with  power  to  his  heart,  the  spirit  is  dormant^  and  not  yet 
roused  into  energetic  action.  The  man  is  hardly  conscious  of  his  spiritual 
life  ;  he  has  not  yet  had  with  his  heart  those  awful  communings,  which  be- 
come a  creature  born  for  eternity.  His  spirit,  though  it  be  not  dead,  has 
not  yet  been  waked  into  active  living  exercise,  by  the  touch,  as  it  were,  of 
the  Spirit  of  God.  He  is,  practically,  still  in  '  the  flesh,'  in  his  natural  state, 
unconscious  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  gift  of  spiritual  life  by  grace,  of 
which  he,  as  a  redeemed  creature,  is  partaking,  and  in  the  strength  of 
which,  ever  renewed  from  the  fulness  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  he  can  break 
off  the  chains  of  Sin,  and  refuse  to  be  its  slave. 

219.  V.  14.  I  am  fleshly,  sold  under  Sin.  St.  Paul  is  still  thinking  of 
himself  in  his  former  state,  not  as  he  was  at  first,  when  he  was  '  living 
apart  from  the  Law,'  but  as  he  was  when  the  Law  had  come  home  to  him, 
and  he  saw  something  of  its  perfection  and  beauty,  and  his  spirit  rejoiced 
in  it,  and  his  will  desired  it,  but,  being  beguiled  by  Sin  into  disobedience, 
he  fell  into  despair,  and  under  the  slavery  of  Sin  and  Death.  In  this  state, 
knowing  nothing  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus,  by  which  his  spirit 
would  be  kept  alive  continually,  and  strength  supplied  to  him  to  refuse  to 
be  the  slave  of  Sin,  it  seemed  to  him  that  he  was  but  a  fleshly  creature,  one 
sold  by  the  very  conditions  of  his  birth,  as  one  of  a  fallen  race,  under  the 
power  of  Sin. 

St.  Paul's  words  here,  as  before,  will  correspond  more  or  less  exactly 
to  the  experience  of  all  earnest  men,  in  proportion  as  their  eyes  are  en- 
lightened to  see  the  Holiness  of  the  Divine  Law,  and  their  own  deficiency. 
Such  a  feeling,  as  he  has  here  expressed,  must  often  be  the  feeling  of  any 
man,  who,  without  the  revelation  of  God's  grace,  becomes  awakened  to  the 
sense  of  his  duty,  and  again  and  again  is  made  deeply  conscious  how  much 
he  comes  short  of  it.  He  knows  nothing  of  the  life  of  the  spirit,  that  spiri- 
tual life  which  has  been  given  to  us,  and  will  be  maintained  in  us,  because 
Christ  lives,  though,  in  fact,  he  feels  its  presence  within  him,  continually 
prompting  him  to  good,  and  warning  him  from  evil.  But,  every  time  he 
is  seduced  into  sin,  it  seems  as  if  he  must  lie  down  in  the  dust,  and  die,  as 
if  he  were  only  fleshly,  sold  as  a  bond-slave  under  Sin.  It  is  true,  all  the 
while,  that  such  a  person  is  not  really  a  mere  fleshly  creature,  is  not  sold 
under  Sin.  The  very  sense  he  has  of  his  misery  shows  this — shows  that 
the  spirit  is  there,  and  is  alive  within  him.  The  very  groaning  of  his  soul, 
while  he  feels  the  accursed  power  of  Sin,  and  writhes  under  the  hateful 


CHAP.  VII.  12—20.  147 

bondage,  is  a  sign  that  he  is  not  born  to  be  a  slave  of  Sin,  that  his  rightful 
Master  is  even  now  claiming  him,  that  he  has  even  now,  though  he  does 
not  yet  know  it,  a  right  and  a  power  to  shake  off  the  fetters  of  Sin,  and 
rise  up  rejoicing,  as  a  freed  man  of  Christ.  Sometimes,  indeed,  he  does 
begin  to  lift  up  his  head  in  hope,  conscious  of  a  strength,  which  he  has 
been  able  to  exert  for  a  season.  He  begins,  perhaps,  to  reckon  upon  it  as 
his  own,  and  to  suppose  that  he  shall  now  at  length  escape  from  the  bond- 
age in  which  he  has  been  held.  Alas !  the  strength,  on  which  he  has  re- 
lied, gives  way  in  the  time  of  temptation.  He  has  no  sweet  assurance,  as 
the  Christian  has,  to  comfort  him  under  this  disappointment,  to  raise  and 
restore  him,  after  his  fall,  to  encourage  him  to  repeat  the  effort,  not  in  his 
own  strength,  but  in  the  strength  of  Him  who  is  our  Head.  And  so  it  seems 
to  him  that  he  is  still  '  in  the  flesh,'  and  its  weakness  must  yield,  and  Sin 
must  be  master,  and  lord  it  over  him  to  the  end.  He  feels  that  he  cannot 
escape  out  of  this  thraldom, — that,  struggle  as  he  may,  it  is  of  no  use  to 
contend  with  evil, — that  he  must  surrender  himself  to  do  the  work  of  Sin, 
and  receive  its  wages. 

220.  V.  15.  /  do  not  alloio^  literally,  '  I  do  not  know,'  I  do  not  recog- 
nise, approve  of,  allow ;  in  the  same  sense  in  which  it  is  said,  '  The  Lord 
knoweth  them  that  are  His.' 

221.  V.  16.  /  agree  to  the  Laio  that  it  is  good,  I  have  an  inward  con- 
sciousness that  the  Law  itself  is  good  and  excellent.  It  is  the  redeemed 
spirit,  quickened  with  life  from  the  Life  which  is  in  Christ,  which  is  con- 
scious of  this,  though  the  man  himself  may  not  know  that  he  has  such  a 
living  spirit  within  him,  and  may  yield  himself,  in  spite  of  this  conscious- 
ness, to  be  the  slave  of  Sin. 

222.  V.  17.  But  now.  The  word  '  now'  here  does  not  refer  to  time,  as 
if  opposed  to  '  then,'  but  is  equivalent  to  '  this  being  the  case,'  '  under  these 
circumstances.' 

223.  V.  17.  N'o  longer  Iivork  it  oict,  but  Sin  dwelling  in  me, — that  is, 
in  my  fallen  nature,  as  a  man.  The  Apostle  is  still  describing  the  state  in 
which  he  found  himself,  when  God's  Law  was  brought  home  to  his  con- 
science, and  he  approved  it  heartily,  his  mind  took  delight  in  it,  though  he 
knew  not  why,  he  knew  not  that  he  was  a  spiritual  creature,  and  that  his 
spirit's  life  was,  and  would  be,  sustained  by  virtue  of  his  union  with  the 
Spirit  of  Christ.  And  so  he  tried  to  keep  the  holy  Law,  and,  presently. 
Sin  sprung  up  into  life  in  his  fallen  nature,  beguiled  him  into  disobedience, 
overthrew  him,  and  slew  him.  And  yet  he  did  not  consent  willingly  to  be 
its  slave.  He  speaks  of  himself, — not  as  doing  from  the  heart  the  works 
of  Sin,  for  in  that  case  he  would  be  '  working  out '  evil  (ii.  9),  but — as  hat- 
ing the  work,  while,  from  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  he  does  it,  as  loathing 


148  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMAN 

the  bondage,  in  which  he  feels  himself,  as  it  seems  to  him,  hopelessly  con- 
demned to  do  the  work  of  a  slave.  '  It  is  not  I  that  work  out  this  evil, 
that  work  it  with  my  heart,  with  full  consent  and  purpose.  But  it  is  the 
tyrant  Sin,  who  lords  it  over  me,  and  makes  me  do  it,  and  is  day  by  day  in 
this  manner  destroying  me,  and  bringing  death  upon  me.' 

224.  V.  IS.  Tliere  dwelleth  not  in  me,  that  is,  i)i  my  flesh,  anything 
good ;  for  to  toill  is  present  to  me,  but  to  ivork  out  what  is  beautiful  I  find 
not.  '  In  my  flesh,'  says  the  Apostle,  '  in  that  nature  which  I  derive  from 
Adam,  I  know,  there  dwelleth  no  good  thing.'  He  corrects  the  first  ex- 
pression, '  in  me,'  because  he  feels  that  in  himself  as  a  redeemed  creature, — 
as  having  a  second  spiritual  birth,  a  spiritual  nature,  derived  from  the 
second  Adam, — there  is  something  good.  There  loas  something  good  in 
him,  though  not  in  his  fleshly  nature,  even  under  the  circumstances  he  is 
describing,  when  he  fell  down,  bowed,  as  it  seemed,  even  unto  death, 
under  the  accursed  yoke  of  Sin.  There  was  something  good,  for  '  to  will 
was  present  in  him  ;'  though,  at  that  time,  without  any  knowledge  of  the 
Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus,  from  which  his  own  spirit  had  derived  its 
life,  and  might,  at  all  times,  draw  fresh  supplies  of  life  for  its  daily  neces- 
sities, he  found  not  any  means  of  '  working  out '  that  which  he  saw  to  be  so 
'  fair  and  good.'  He  was  then  working /o>-  life, — trying  to  '  work  out '  what 
is  good,  that  he  might  establish  his  own  righteousness,  and  enter  into  life. 
Now  he  has  learned  the  blessedness  of  working  from  life,  of  receiving 
thankfully  God's  gracious  gift  of  righteousness,  bestowed  upon  him  freely 
in  His  Son,,  and  the  gift  of  life  which  accompanies  it.  For  in  the  power 
of  that  life,  supplied  daily  from  the  Living  Fountain,  he  can  yield  himself 
up  to  God,  and  his  members  as  servants  unto  God, — not,  indeed,  perfectly, 
not  so  as  to  '  work  out '  that  which  is  good,  as  he  once  thought  of  doing, 
seeking  thereby  gain  or  glory  to  himself,  but  so  as  to  '  work '  it,  as  a  child 
of  God,  to  the  praise  of  his  Father  in  Heaven. 

225.  V.  18.  Beautiful.  This  is  the  nearest  English  word  iK)  express  the 
Greek,  which  implies  not  merely  what  is  good  in  itself,  but  what  is  seen  to 
be  lovely  and  fair,  as  well  as  good. 


CHAP.  VII.   21—23. 

(21)  I  find  the  law  to  me^  willing  to  do  what  is 
beautiful,  that  evil  is  present  to  me.  (22)  For  I  de- 
light in  the  Law  of  God  in  the  inner  man.  (23)  But 
I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the 


CHAP.  VII.  21—23.  149 

law  of  my  mind,  and  leading  me  captive  to  the  law  of 
sin,  which  is  in  my  members. 

NOTES. 

226.  V.  21.  I  find  then  thelaw,  d'c.  Is  it  then  true  that,  whenever  a 
man  wishes  to  do  good,  evil  is  always  present  to  him  ?  Certainly,  evU  is 
always  present  in  our  nature  on  this  side  of  the  grave,  and  ready  to  tempt 
us,  and  draw  us  aside  to  evil ;  and,  more  or  less,  by  reason  of  the  weak- 
ness of  our  fleshly  nature,  it  does  mingle  imperfection  with  all  we  do, 
"When  we  do  '  what  we  would,'  Sin  more  or  less  defiles  the  action  with 
its  taint ;  and  often,  alas  !  it  draws  us  on  to  do  '  the  things  that  we  would 
not.'  The  pious  heathen  must  have  felt  this,  in  some  measure,  as  well  as 
the  pious  Jew  or  Christian.  He  too  has  had  to  maintain  the  same  kind  of 
struggle  with  the  evil  in  his  nature,  though  he  could  not,  perhaps,  have 
expressed  in  words  what  he  experienced,  or  explained,  in  such  language  as 
St.  Paul  has  used  in  this  chapter,  the  meaning  of  his  troubled  inner  life. 
He,  too,  has  felt  that,  when  he  would  be  doing  good,  evil  was  present 
to  him. 

Aliudque  cupido, 

Mens  aliud  suadet.     Video  meliora,  proboque ; 

Deteriora  sequor. 

And  if,  in  spite  of  this,  the  pious  heathen  has  given  his  heart  to  do  the 
good,  and  refused  to  do  the  evil,  it  was  only  because  he  had  a  strength 
supplied  to  him,  from  a  source  which  he  knew  not.  In  his  flesh,  indeed, ' 
though  he  knew  it  not,  there  was  no  good  thing ;  but  in  his  Lord,  un- 
known, perhaps,  by  Name  to  him  as  yet,  but  by  whom  he  was  known, 
there  was  Life,  from  which  the  life  of  his  spirit  came. 

But  to  the  true  Christian  these  words  of  St.  Paul  are  abundantly  intel- 
ligible.    He  finds  it  to  be  '  the  law ' — that  is,  the  rule  under  which  his  life 
in  this  world  must  be  passed — that,  when  he  would  do  good,  evil  will  be 
present  to  him,  suggested  to  him,  or  tempting  him.     The  more  devout  and 
earnest  and  heavenly-minded  a  man  has  grown  by  God's  grace,  the  more 
conscious  he  will  be  of  this, — if  not  always,  at  every  moment,  yet  so  con 
stantly,  that  he  feels  it  to  be,  as  it  were,  '  the  law '  of  his  earthly  existence 
he  is  ever  reminded  that  sin  is  there,  close  at  hand,  in  his  fleshly  nature 
But  this  is  the  difference  between  his  present  state  and  his  former  state 
when  he  too,  perhaps — like  St.  Paul — lived  for  a  season  '  in  the  flesh,'  un 
conscious  of  the  spiritual  influences,  which,  by  God's  grace,  were  even  then 
acting  upon  him.     Then,  when  at  last  he  was  stii-red  to  the  very  depths 
within  him  by  God's  living  word,  coming  home  to  his  heart, — when  he 


150  EPISTLE   TO   THE   EOMANS. 

thus  became  convinced  of  sin,  of  the  perfect  holiness  of  God's  Blessed  Law, 
and  his  own  frequent  unfaithfulness  and  utter  inability  to  keep  it, — he  fell 
into  hopelessness  and  despair,  he  fell  back  under  the  power  of  Sin  and 
Death.  Noio  he  understands  the  whole.  He  knows  that  there  is  this  Sin, 
'  which  is  in  him,'  that  evil  will  be  present  to  him,  whenever  he  would  be 
doing  good, — that  the  hateful  tyrant  will  try  to  bring  him  under  its  power 
as  a  mere  fleshly  creature,  and  may,  perchance,  through  the  weakness  of 
the  flesh,  bound,  as  he  still  must  be,  in  this  life  to  this  '  body  of  death,' 
make  him  still  at  times,  against  his  will  and  better  resolutions,  do  its  vile 
work  in  some  act  or  other.  The  knowledge  he  has  of  this  fact  will  help  to 
keep  him  humble  and  dependent,  '  watching  unto  prayer ; '  but  it  will  not 
now  drive  him  to  despair.  For  his  spirit  is  still  alive  unto  God,  quickened 
with  Christ's  Life.  He  knows  this,  even  when  fallen  for  a  season,  and 
lying  oppressed  under  the  accursed  slavery  of  Sin.  He  knows  this,  so  long 
as  he  feels  within  him  one  single  pulse,  as  it  were,  of  spiritual  life,  one 
movement  of  the  heart  towards  God  and  the  remembrance  of  His  Holiness, 
one  thought  of  repentance,  one  desire  to  return,  and  throw  himself  at  the 
feet  of  his  Heavenly  Father,  and  say,  '  Father,  I  have  sinned :  I  am  no 
more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  child.'  And,  knowing  that  his  spirit  is  thus 
still  alive  with  Christ's  Life,  he  knows  also  that  he  can  have  it  quickened 
with  the  abundance  of  that  Life.  He  is  able  now  to  shake  off  the  hold  of 
Sin.  He  confesses  his  fault  to  that  gracious  Father,  who  has  known  it  all 
along,  and  receives  again  that  'righteousness,'  that  'forgiveness'  of  his 
'  unrighteousness,'  that  '  covering '  of  his  '  sin,'  which  that  Father's  Love 
has  freely  provided  for  him  in  His  own  dear  Son.  And  then,  with  the 
sense  of  that  renewal  of  the  gift  of  righteousness,  there  comes  a  flow  of 
fresh  life  into  his  whole  spiritual  being.  Being  justified  by  faith,  by  simple 
trust  in  God's  Fatherly  forgiving  Mercy  and  restoring  Love,  he  has  peace 
again  with  God.  He  is  able  nov/  to  look  up  again  to  Heaven,  with  teai-ful 
eyes,  indeed,  and  with  a  broken  heart,  but  yet  with  joy  beaming  through 
his  tears,  and  a  living  hope  possessing  his  bosom.  And  so  he  springs  for- 
ward again  to  his  work  by  his  Master's  side,  singing  cheerfully  the  song  of 
faith,  and  saying,  '  Sin  shall  not  lord  it  over  me  ;  for  I  am  not  imder  the 
Law,  but  under  Grace.' 

227.  V.  22.  I  delight  in  the  Law  of  God  in  the  inner  man.  In  my 
heart  of  hearts  I  heartily  approve  and  love  the  blessed  Law  of  God,  even 
when  the  sin  in  my  fleshly  nature  tempts  me  to  disobedience,  and  my  weak 
and  foolish  will  consents  to  be  beguiled.  By  the  '  inner  man '  the  Apostle 
means  not  the  spirit,  or  the  will,  but  the  thinking,  reasoning,  part  of  man, 
the  '  mind,'  as  he  afterwards  calls  it,  endowed  with  reason  and  conscience, 
the  faculties  of  moral  sense,  which  are  quickened  into  action,  because  he 


CHAP.  VII.  21 — 23.  151 

is  a  redeemed  creature,  and  has  a  living  spirit  within  him.  (See  note  228.) 
He  is  speaking  here,  in  his  own  person,  of  men,  like  himself,  to  whose 
hearts  the  word  of  God  has  come  home,  and  who  long  to  be  conformed 
unto  the  Holy  Will  of  God,  but  fall  back  in  despair,  at  the  sense  of  its  per- 
fection and  of  their  own  vileuess.  But  the  statement,  which  he  has  here 
made,  expresses  also  the  experience  of  every  human  being.  As  redeemed 
creatures,  we  do,  every  one  of  us, — the  ignorant  heathen,  as  well  as  the 
enlightened  Christian, — '  dehght  in  the  Law  of  God  in  our  inner  man,'  so 
far  as  it  has  been  revealed  and  brought  home  to  us,  whether  we  obey  it  or 
not. 

228.  V.  22.  But  I  see  another  law  in  my  members.  The  Apostle  speaks 
of  the  human  body  and  its  natural  desires,  as  in  themselves  indifferent, 
just  as  in  the  case  of  other  creatures.  The  body  and  its  members  are  in- 
nocent of  all  sin,  as  being  mere  matter,  having  no  consciousness  of  good 
or  evil.  But  the  body  and  its  members  must  be  managed,  and  used  as  in- 
struments for  good  or  evil.  And  the  question  is,  what  power  shall  rule 
them, — the  power  of  the  spirit,  quickened  by  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ 
Jesus,  or  the  power  of  Sin,  which  is  in  us,  in  our  fleshly  nature,  and  tries 
to  lord  it  over  the  body,  and  lay  down  its  law  upon  the  members.  By  na- 
ture, by  our  mere  natural  descent  from  Adam,  the  '  law  of  sin  is  in  our 
members.'  And,  if  a  man  is  still  living  '  in  the  flesh,'  knowing  nothing  as 
yet  of  the  Spirit  of  Life,  of  which  the  Gospel  speaks  to  us,  then,  when  the 
word  of  God  comes  home  to  him  first  with  its  mighty  power,  it  will  seem 
to  him  that  he  must  yield  up  his  body  to  do  the  work  of  Sin,  and  must 
himself  become  its  slave.  It  is  true,  that  he  is  not  really,  as  he  supposes, 
a  mere  fleshly  being.  He  feels  even  now  a  '  law  of  his  mind,'  against  which 
this  '  law  of  sin  in  his  members  is  warring.'  That  '  law  of  his  mind '  is  a 
sign,  if  he  only  knew  its  meaning,  that  he  is  not  merely  a  fleshly  and  fallen, 
but  a  redeemed  and  spiritual,  creature.  The  '  mind  '—the  thinking,  rea- 
soning, part  of  man — stands  here,  in  fact,  for  the  man  himself,  considered 
as  a  thinking  and  reasoning  being,  as  having  reason  and  conscience,  having 
power  to  discern  the  right  from  the  wrong,  the  good  from  the  evil,  because 
he  has  a  living  spirit  given  him,  in  union  with  which  these  faculties  of 
moral  sense  are  quickened.  If  he  had  no  living  spirit  given  him,  by  union 
through  God's  grace  with  the  Living  Head  of  the  great  human  family,— if 
he  were  only  a  fallen,  fleshly,  and  sinful,  and  therefore  also  an  accursed, 
creature,  instead  of  a  redeemed  one, — these  faculties  of  moral  sense  would 
be  dead ;  he  would  have  no  power  to  behold  the  beauty  of  goodness  and 
the  deformity  of  vice,  to  approve  the  one  and  condemn  the  other.  But 
every  man  is  redeemed  and  has  a  living  spirit  given  him,  by  virtue  of  his 
union  with  his  Lord.     And,  though  he  may,  by  long  continuance  in  known 


152  EPISTLE   TO    THE    ROMANS. 

evil,  crush  out  by  degrees  more  and  more  the  very  life  of  his  spirit,  yet  BO 
long  as  he  has  still  within  him,  however  faint,  that  spiritual  life,  his  reason 
and  conscience  will  lay  down  a  law  to  him,  as  a  thinlcing  being,  the  '  law 
of  his  mind.'  Thus  it  is  that,  in  the  '  inner  man,'  he  approves  of  the  Law 
of  God,  as  holy,  just,  and  good,  even  while  he  weakly  yields  to  the  '  law  of 
sin  which  is  in  his  members,'  which  '  wars  against  the  law  of  his  mind,' 
and  is  '  led  captive  '  by  it  at  its  will. 

Among  the  Zulus  there  is  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  double  nature 
of  man.  They  speak  of  the  uGovana^  which  prompts  him  to  steal  and  lie, 
commit  murder  and  adultery,  and  the  icNemheza.,  which  '  bids  him,'  as  a 
native  would  say,  '  leave  all  that.' 

229.  V.  23.  leading  me  captive.  The  Greek  Present  here  used  may 
imply  not  actually  '  leading  captive,'  (which  may  or  may  not  be  the  case,) 
but  '  seeking  to  lead  captive.'  '  The  law  of  sin  in  my  members  fights 
against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  is  bent  upon  bringing  me  under  subjection 
to  itself  (the  law  of  sin  in  my  members),  as  a  captive  slave.' 

CHAP.  YII.   24,  25. 

(24)  Wretched  man  that  I  am  !  Who  shall  deliver 
me  out  of  this  body  of  death  ?  I  thank  God  through 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  (25)  So  then  I  myself  with  my 
mind  serve,  as  a  slave,  the  Law  of  God,  though  with  the 
flesh  the  law  of  sin. 

NOTES. 

230.  T.  24.  Wretched  man  that  I  am  !  The  groan  is  at  last  forced  out 
from  a  man,  who,  still  living  '  in  the  flesh,'  unconscious  of  his  hope  and 
strength  as  a  redeemed  creature,  knowing  nothing  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  in 
Christ  Jesus,  by  which  his  own  spirit  lives,  is  strong  in  his  own  strength  to 
do  what  is  good,  or  seems  to  be  so,  (for  the  strength,  which  he  has,  comes 
really  from  God,  though  he  does  not  yet  know  this,  but  thinks  it  his  own,) 
and  finds  himself  again  and  again  overcome, — finds  himself  beguiled  by  the 
sin  in  his  nature,  and  led  captive  to  the  law  of  sin  in  his  members,  in  spite 
of  the  voice  of  reason  and  conscience,  in  opposition  to  the  law  of  his  mind, 
— and  so,  at  last,  sinks  back  in  despair. 

231.  V.  24.  Who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  this  body  of  death  ?  Then, 
at  last,  he  cries  for  help.  He  cannot  save  himself  from  being  overcome  by 
the  power  of  evil.     But  is  there  none  Mighty  to  save — and  Merciful  as  well 


CHAP.  VIII.  1 — 4.  153 

as  Mighty — able  and  willing  to  deliver  him  '  out  of  this  body  of  death ' — 
not  '  from,'  but  '  out  of,'  as  if  he  were  helplessly  sunk  and  held  fast  in  it  ? 
He  calls  our  present  body  a  '  body  of  death,'  because  it  is  a  '  body  of  Sin,' 
— innocent  and  helpless,  indeed,  in  itself,  indifferent  to  good  or  evil,  but, 
as  far  as  our  natural  birth  is  concerned,  used  by  our  fleshly  nature,  as  the 
instrument  of  Sin,  to  work  out  death  in  us, 

232.  V.  24.  1  thank  God  through  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  I  thank 
God  I  am  delivered  out  of  it, — not  from  it,  (for  that  can  only  be  when  it  is 
broken  up  by  death,)  but  out  of  it,  out  of  the  state  of  helplessness  in  which 
I  seemed  sunk,  because  tied  to  this  body.  For  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ 
Jesus  enables  me  to  strive  with  and  overcome  the  law  of  sin  and  death, 
which  is  in  my  members  ;  and  I  can  now  refuse  to  be  the  slave  of  Sin,  and 
to  yield  up  my  members  to  its  will. 

233.  V.  25.  So  then  I  myself^  dr.  Now,  therefore,  since  we  have  re- 
ceived the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  I,  the  true  man,  myself,  (with 
reference  to  vv.  IT,  20,  where  he  had  said  it  is  not  /  that  do  this  evil,  but 
Sin  that  dwelleth  in  me,)  can  serve  and  do  serve  with  my  mind,  my  think- 
ing, reasoning  powers,  the  Law  of  God,  although,  it  is  true,  my  fleshly 
nature  still  is  a  slave  to  the  law  of  Sin.  If  I  did  not  know  God's  grace  in 
the  Gospel,  I  might,  indeed,  be  miserable,  be  overwhelmed  with  shame  and 
dread,  at  finding  by  daily  experience,  that,  while  with  my  mind  I  obey 
God's  Law,  yet  still  there  is  a  part  of  my  nature,  which  is  corrupt  and  evil, 
and  holds  me  back  from  obeying  it  as  perfectly  as  I  would, — a  fallen,  flesh- 
ly nature,  in  which  Sin  dwells.  But  I  will  not  let  the  Sin  in  my  fleshly 
nature  work  out  its  work  in  me,  as  it  seeks  to  do.  It  is  not  lord  over  me, 
though  it  claims  to  be  so.  My  fleshly  nature  may  and  will  own  its  rule,  as 
indeed  it  must ;  but  I  myself  will  not ;  w^ith  my  mind  I  will  serve  the  law 
of  God,  walking  '  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit.' 


CHAP.  YIIL   1—4. 

(1)  So  fhen  there  is  now  no  condemnation  to  those 
in  Christ  Jesus.  (2)  For  the  Law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life 
in  Christ  Jesus  freed  me  from  the  Law  of  Sin  and 
Death.  (3)  For,  what  to  the  Law  was  impossible,  that 
wherein  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,  God,  sending 
his  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh  and  for  sin,  con- 


154  EPISTLE   TO   THE   EOMANS. 

demned  tlie  sin  in  the  flesli ;  (4)  tliat  so  the  require- 
ment of  the  law  may  be  fulfilled  in  us,  walking,  of 
course,  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit. 

NOTES. 

234.  V,  1.  so  then  there  is  now  no  condemnation  to  those  in  Christ  Jesus. 
The  Apostle  is  speaking  of  earnest,  devout  believers,  like  himself,  who  have 
realised  the  true  meaning  of  the  blessed  gift  of  righteousness  which  the 
Gospel  declares  to  us.  Now  from  his  heart,  as  he  says  in  the  next  verse, 
and  from  the  heart  of  others  like  him,  to  whom  the  words  of  life  have  been 
brought  home,  the  weight  has  been  taken  off,  the  sense  of  guilt  and  misery 
and  condemnation,  which  would  otherwise  have  driven  them  to  despair, 
and  left  them  helpless  under  the  power  of  Sin  and  Death. 

From  all,  then,  which  has  been  said,  it  follows,  and  this  is  the  blessed 
Message  of  the  Gospel,  that,  though  we  have  a  sinful  nature,  and  are  con- 
scious of  innumerable  faults  and  shortcomings,  there  is  no  condemnation 
against  us  for  that.  We  are  '  in  Christ  Jesus,' — objects  of  favour  in  Him, 
regarded  by  our  Heavenly  Father,  as  redeemed  and  reconciled  in  Him. 
The  words,  '  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit,'  which  stand 
at  the  end  of  this  verse  in  the  English  Version,  are  not  found  in  the  best 
MSS.,  and  were  probably  introduced  from  verse  4  by  some  transcriber,  who 
thought  it  necessary  to  correct  in  this  way  what  seemed  to  him  too  bold  an 
assertion. 

If  men,  Christians  or  others,  do  walk  '  after  the  flesh,'  of  course,  there 
will  be  condemnation  upon  them,  as  he  has  said  already  in  ii.  6 — 16.  But 
he  is  not  referring  here  to  that  kind  of  condemnation,  which  will  justly  rest 
on  those  who  '  keep  back  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,'  and  wilfully  sin 
against  the  light,  and  knowledge  of  the  right  and  true  vouchsafed  to  them. 

235.  V.  2.  the  Law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus  freed  me  from 
the  law  of  Sin  and  Death.  As  soon  as  the  words  of  life  in  the  Gospel 
came  home  to  my  heart,  the  chains  of  Sin  and  Death  fell  off  from  my 
hands.  I  found  that  I  was  no  longer  obliged  to  be  the  slave  of  Sin,  and 
obey  its  law.  I  found  that  I  was  under  a  law  of  Life  and  Love, — that  the 
Spirit  of  Grace  was  given  me,  to  quicken  my  spirit,  and  restore  it  con- 
stantly, when  faint  and  feeble.  And  that  Spirit  was  given  as  a  Spirit  of 
Adoption  also,  and  its  operations  within  my  heart,  of  which  I  am  daily  con- 
scious, are  signs  to  me  that  I  am  dealt  with  as  a  child,  that  my  Father  loves 
me,  that  I  am  not  an  accursed,  but  a  redeemed  creature.  Under  that  law 
of  Love  my  heart,  my  will,  yielded  itself  joyfully,  choosing  to  obey  the 


CHAP.  vin.  1 — 4:.  155 

better  Law  of  my  mind,  and  not  the  law  of  sin,  which  is  in  my  fleshly  na- 
ture, and  tries  to  bring  me  under  its  power. 

This  '  Law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life '  is,  doubtless,  brought  home,  more  or 
less  distinctly,  to  many,  who  have  not  been  blessed  with  the  full  revelation 
of  it  in  the  Gospel,  and  with  proportionate  effect  in  fiUing  their  hearts  with 
strength  and  peace  in  the  discharge  of  life's  duties.  If  any  heathen,  such 
as  Socrates  or  Cicero,  has  felt  a  cheerful,  child-hke  confidence  in  the  Divine 
Goodness  and  Mercy,  while  following,  though  imperfectly,  yet  sincerely 
and  with  a  single  eye,  the  Law  of  his  mind,  as  a  redeemed  creature, — that 
which  he  knew  to  be  the  good  and  the  true, — that  joy  must  have  been  the 
fruit  of  the  same  Good  Spirit  in  his  heart,  inspiring  his  spirit  with  life, 
'  working  in  him  both  to  will  and  to  do,  after  God's  good  pleasure.' 

236.  V.  3.  for,  what  to  the  law  teas  impossible,  <£r.  For  '  what  the 
Law,'  God's  blessed  Law,  brought  home  to  the  heart  and  conscience  in  any 
way,  '  could  not  do,' — the  thing,  '  in  which  it  was  weak  by  reason  of  the 
flesh,'  because  Sin  is  in  our  fleshly  nature,  and  rules  it  as  its  slave, — '  God 
did,'  who  '  sent  His  own  Son,  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh  and  on  account 
of  sin,  and  thereby  condemned  the  sin  in  our  flesh.' 

The  pure  and  perfect  Law  seemed  to  bring  under  condemnation  human 
nature  itself,  as  if  it  were  impossible  for  any  human  being,  for  one  with 
such  flesh  as  ours,  with  such  natural  desires,  passions,  and  affections,  to  be 
perfectly  pure  and  holy.  Our  Lord  took  our  flesh  :  He  was  made  in  our 
likeness,  in  the  likeness  of  this  very  flesh  of  ours,  this  flesh  of  ours  which 
has  the  taint  of  sin, — '  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,'  with  a  nature  like 
ours,  yet  so  that  His  fleshly  nature  had  no  taint  of  sin.  He  was  made  like 
unto  us  in  all  points,  a  true,  living,  man  of  flesh  and  blood,  with  body, 
soul,  and  spirit,  such  as  we  have, — subject  to  all  the  weakness  and  infirmity 
of  this  sinful  flesh,  subject  to  suffering  and  pain,  disease  and  death,  taking 
the  very  likeness  of  this  sinful  flesh,  only  without  the  taint  of  sin.  And 
He,  in  that  flesh,  which  He  took, — He,  as  a  Man,  a  true  Man,  a  true 
Brother  of  the  race,  He, — '  bearing  all  our  griefs,  carrying  all  our  sorrows,' 
sharing  in  all  the  weakness  and  pains  of  our  flesh,  suffering  from  hunger 
and  thirst,  cold  and  weariness,  trial  and  temptation,  having  passions  and 
affections,  like  other  men, — yet  wrought,  in  that  very  flesh,  a  perfect  right- 
eousness, and  so  showed  that  sin  was  not  a  necessary  ingredient  of  a  fleshly 
nature  like  ours,  that  it  was  possible  to  be  clothed  with  flesh,  as  we  are,  to 
have  a  fleshly  nature  as  we  have,  yet  not  a  sinful  one,  to  be  a  human  being, 
such  as  we  are,  and  not  sin.  This  is  one  way  in  which  God  condemned  the 
sin  in  our  flesh,  by  sending  His  Son  in  the  likeness  of  that  very  flesh,  to 
fulfil  the  blessed  Law  of  God. 

But  He  sent  Him  also  '  on  account  of  sin,'  as  a  '  sacrifice  for  sin,' — not 


166  EPISTLE   TO    THE   ROMANS. 

merely  as  an  evidence  and  example  of  what  might  be  done  by  a  human 
being,  clothed  with  flesh  and  blood,  as  we  are,  if  we  had  the  strength  of 
righteous  creatures,  as  He  had,  but  to  take  away  our  unrighteousness,  by 
offering  up  Himself,  in  His  Life  and  Death  of  perfect  obedience,  a  living 
sacrifice,  holy  and  acceptable,  and  well-pleasing  unto  God.  God  sent  Him 
thus,  in  order  that  He  Himself,  our  Loving  Father,  might  put  away  our  sin, 
and  receive  and  bless  us  as  righteous  creatures  in  Him.  Thus  '  our  unright- 
eousness is  forgiven,'  and  '  our  sin  covered,'  by  the  Love  of  our  Heavenly 
Father,  looking  at  Him  and  His  perfect  offering  of  righteousness,  and  at  us 
in  Him,  our  union  with  Him  being  evidenced  by  His  taking  a  Body  in  the 
likeness  of  our  sinful  flesh,  and  being  sealed  by  His  Blood.  Not  only  om-- 
selves,  but  the  living  sacriflces,  which  we  offer,  though  in  themselves  im- 
perfect and  unclean,  are  sprinkled  with  His  Blood,  in  the  eyes  of  our 
Heavenly  Father.  They  are  looked  upon  as  one  with  that  perfect  Sacrifice 
which  He  offered,  by  virtue  of  that  Death,  which  completed  His  human  life 
of  obedience,  and  fully  declared  His  brotherhood  with  us  ;  and  so  they  too 
are  '  holy  and  acceptable  unto  God,  our  reasonable  service.' 

In  this  way,  also,  by  sending  His  Son  to  make  at-one-ment  for  sin,  to  take 
away  our  sin  in  God's  sight,  by  the  perfect  sacrifice,  which  He  offered,  of 
loving  obedience,  even  unto  death,  a  death  which  sealed  His  union  with  us 
as  our  Head,  God  further  and  more  fully  condemned  '  the  sin  in  our  flesh.' 
He  showed  before  that  sin  was  no  necessary  pait  of  a  fleshly  nature,  that 
such  a  being  as  man,  even  in  his  present  weak  and  suffering  state,  if  not  a 
fallen  creature,  has  nothing  to  do  with  serving  sin,  and  need  not  be  its 
slave.  He  now  showed  further  that  even,  though  fallen,  we  are  not  left  to 
be  its  slaves ;  for  God  Himself  has  restored  and  raised  us  from  the  Fall ; 
He  has  sent  His  Son  as  a  sacrifice  on  account  of  sin,  and,  looking  at  Him 
and  His  pure  offering,  He  looks  with  favour  upon  us,  though  sinful  crea- 
tures ;  He  freely  puts  away  our  sin  for  the  sake  of  Him,  whom  He  Himself 
has  sent  to  be  our  Head.  Our  sins  fade  away  and  disappear  in  the  light  of 
His  perfect  righteousness,  and  we  receive  the  free  gift  of  righteousness  and 
life.  In  both  these  ways  God  '  condemned  the  sin  in  our  flesh.'  He  made 
it  plain  that,  though  present  in  our  fleshly  nature,  it  was  no  proper  part  of 
it,  it  ought  not  to  be  there  ;  and,  though  it  will  be  there  to  the  end  of  this 
mortal  life,  when  '  this  body  of  death '  shall  be  done  away,  yet  it  need  not, 
and  viust  not,  rule  the  man,  as  a  redeemed  creature,  a  member  of  Christ,  a 
child  of  God,  whom  the  '  law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus  has  set 
free  from  the  law  of  Sin  and  Death.' 

The  Law  by  itself  could  not  do  this.  It  could  only  convince  a  man  of 
sin — make  him  feel  that  he  had  a  sinful  taint  in  his  nature,  that  sin  was  in 
his  flesh.    It  could  not  '  condemn  the  sin  in  his  flesh.'    It  could  not  make 


CHAP.    YIII.    5 11.  167 

the  man  feel,  either  that  sin  ought  not  to  have  such  power  in  a  fleshly  na- 
ture like  ours,  or  that  it  need  not,  and  rmcst  not,  by  bringing  our  members 
to  do  its  work,  as  instruments  of  imrighteousness,  be  allowed  to  put  forth 
this  power  in  us,  though  we  are  fallen  creatures,  and  our  fleshly  nature  has 
the  taint  of  sin.  Only  the  Gospel  of  God's  Free  Grace  and  Love  in  Christ 
Jesus  could  do  this. 

23Y.  V.  4.  fulfilled,  not  perfectly,  but  with  hearty  readiness  and  full 
desire,  embracing  the  whole  Law  in  all  its  points. 

238.  V.  4.  walking,  of  course,  d'c.  The  words, '  of  course,'  express  the 
force  of  the  Greek  article  here.  St.  Paul  qualifies,  as  it  were,  his  language, 
knowing  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  grace  of  God,  the  requirements  of  His 
blessed  Law  will  not  be  fulfilled  by  all,  but  only  by  those  who  walk  after 
the  Spirit. 

239.  V.  4.  after  the  fiesh.  Note,  that  to 'walk  {n  ^/le^^es/*,' is  not  the 
same  as  to  '  walk  after  the  flesh.'  The  difference  in  the  two  expressions  is 
well  shown  in  2  Cor.  x.  2,  3.  '  Some  think  of  us  as  if  we  walked  after  the 
fiesh.  But,  though  we  walk  in  the  fiesh,  we  do  not  war  after  the  fiesh."* 
To  '  walk  in  the  flesh '  is  to  walk  as  persons  still  bearing  about  with  us  the 
consequences  of  the  Fall,  whether  with  or  without  a  consciousness  of  our 
condition,  whether  with  or  without  a  willing  surrender  of  the  heart  to  abide 
in  that  condition.  To  live  '  after  the  flesh '  is  to  make  this  surrender,  to 
follow  the  suggestions  and  impulses  of  our  fallen  fleshly  nature,  which  is  a 
*  slave  of  Sin.' 

240.  V.  4.  after  the  spirit.  The  spirit,  here,  is  the  spirit  of  the  man, 
which  is  quickened  by  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus,  and,  so  long  as  it 
lives,  is  the  '  servant  of  God,'  which  the  whole  man,  with  his  mind,  is 
bound  to  obey. 


CHAP.  VIII.    5—11. 

(5)  For  those  after  the  flesh  mind  the  things  of 
the  flesh  ;  hut  those  after  the  spirit,  the  things  of  the 
spirit.  (6)  For  the  mind  of  the  flesh  is  death  ;  hut 
the  mind  of  the  spirit  is  Hfe  and  peace.  (7)  Because 
the  mind  of  the  flesh  is  enmity  against  God  ;  for  it  is 
not  for  heing  subjected  to  the  law  of  God,  neither,  in- 
deed, can  he  ;  (8)  hut  they,  who  are  in  flesh,  cannot 
please  God.     (9)  But  ye  are  not  in  flesh,  hut  in  spirit, 


158  EPISTLE   TO    THE    ROMANS. 

if,  indeed,  the  Spirit  of  God  dwells  in  you.  But,  if  any 
mem  lias  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  that  man  is  not  His. 
(10)  But,  if  Christ  be  in  you,  the  body,  indeed,  is 
dead  by  reason  of  sin,  but  the  spirit  is  life  by  reason 
of  righteousness.  (11)  But,  if  the  Spirit  of  Him,  who 
raised  Jesus  from  the  dead,  dwells  in  you.  He,  who 
raised  Christ  from  the  dead,  shall  quicken  also  your 
mortal  bodies  by  reason  of  His  Spirit  which  dwelleth 

in  vou. 

NOTES. 

241.  V.  6.  the  mind  of  the  flesh  is  death,  d'c.  That  which  the  flesh, 
the  fallen,  fleshly,  Adam-nature,  minds  or  concerns  itself  about,  is  sin, 
which  is  another  name  for  death.  But  that  which  the  spirit  of  a  man 
minds,  quickened  by  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Chiist  Jesus,  is  goodness,  which 
is  another  name  for  life  and  peace. 

According  to  St.  Paul,  the  flesh,  the  old,  fallen,  fleshly  nature,  derived 
from  our  birth  from  the  first  Adam,  is  always  setting  its  heart  on  what  is  evil ; 
while  the  spirit,  the  new  spiritual  nature,  derived  from  our  birth  from  the 
second  Adam,  is  always  setting  its  heart  on  what  is  good.  And  now,  which 
will  the  man  himself,  in  the  awful  responsibility  of  his  own  will,  choose  to 
obey  ?  Will  he  yield  himself  up  to  Sin,  as  a  willing  slave,  surrendering  his 
helpless  body  and  its  members,  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness,  to  the 
Sin  which  dwells  in  his  fallen,  fleshly  nature,  and  so  by  degrees  destroy  the 
life  of  his  spirit  ?  Or  will  he  yield  himself  up  to  God,  and  so  find  his  own 
spirit  more  and  more  abound  with  life,  and  his  heart  with  peace,  being 
filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God  ? 

242.  v,  8.  they,  who  are  in  flesh,  in  a  fleshly  state,  living  as  mere  flesh- 
ly creatures,  knowing  no  other  mind  than  that  of  the  flesh,  yielding  them- 
selves up  to  the  sin  in  their  flesh,  to  do  its  work  as  slaves,  sunk  down,  as  it 
were,  into  the  midst  of  their  fleshly  nature,  and  making  no  efforts  to  rise 
out  of  it.  Such  '  cannot  please  God  : '  He  cannot  take  delight  in  them : 
they  cannot  offer  Him  the  living  sacrifice  of  all  their  powers,  which  He  de- 
sires of  His  children.  How  far  such  a  state  is  guilty  before  God,  He  only 
can  tell,  who  knows  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  and  lives,  what  light  and 
knowledge  have  been  granted  and  abused. 

243.  V.  9.  in  spirit,  in  a  spiritual  state,  living  as  spiritual  creatures, 
giving  yourselves  up  to  be  moulded  for  all  that  is  good,  by  the  influences 
of  the  spirit  within  you,  which  is  quickened  and  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 


CHAP.  vin.  5 — 11.  159 

244.  V.  9.  hut  yoxi  are  not  injlesh,  but  in  spirit,  if,  indeed,  the  Spirit 
of  God  dwells  in  you.  '  But  you,  at  all  events,  are  not  in  a  fleshly,  but  a 
spiritual,  state,  if,  indeed,  you  are  conscious,  (as,  of  course,  you  are,)  that 
the  Spirit  of  God  has  quickened  your  spirits  with  life,  and  dwells  with  life- 
giving,  life  sustaining  power  within  you.' 

245.  V.  9.  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  In  this  passage  the  three  expressions 
are  used  as  synonymous,  '  Spirit  of  God,'  '  Spirit  of  Christ,'  '  Christ.'  But 
it  would  not  be  right  to  force  this  fact  into  a  proof  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trmity,  which  is  not  necessarily  involved  in  it.  Indeed,  it  is  most  prob- 
able that  St.  Paul  uses  the  words  '  of  Christ,'  in  the  sense  of  '  belonging  to 
Christ,'  He  being,  as  it  were,  the  proprietor  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  having 
been  entrusted  with  the  gift  of  Life,  as  the  Head,  to  bestow  it  upon  the 
members.  Thus  (Acts  i.  4)  our  Lord  Himself  speaks  of  the  Spirit,  as  '  the 
promise  of  the  Father,''  and  (Acts  ii.  32,  33)  St.  Peter  says,  '  This  Jesus, 
being  by  the  right  hand  of  God  exalted,  and  having  received  of  the  Father 
the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  hath  shed  forth  this  which  ye  now  both  see 
and  hear.'     It  is  the  '  Spirit  of  Life '  which  God  gives  us  in  His  Son. 

246.  V.  9.  If  any  man  has  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  that  man  is  not 
His.  The  Apostle  states  this  as  an  axiom,  self-evident.  '  Of  course,  every 
living  member  of  the  Body  must  partake  of  the  life  of  the  Head.  So  that, 
if  any  man  has  no  sign  whatever  of  a  living  spirit  within  him,  drawing  its 
life  from  the  Spirit  of  Life,  which  is  given  to  us  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  man 
cannot  belong  to  Christ.'  The  words  are  not  intended  to  imply  that  some 
men  have  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  some  not,  (whether  this  be  so  or  not,) 
any  more  than  the  words  addressed  to  Nicodemus,  '  Unless  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God,'  implied  that  some  men  were 
thus  born  again,  and  others  not,  or  that  he  needed  at  some  future  time  to 
be  born  again,  and  was  not  so  born  already.  Those  words  of  our  Lord  laid 
down  the  general  truth  that  a  new  spiritual  birth  was  needed,  besides  the 
natural  one,  that  a  man  may  enter  heaven.  And  the  words  now  before  us 
enunciate  in  another  form  the  same  truth.  '  If  any  man  has  not  the  Spirit 
of  Christ,  he  is  not  His.'  If,  therefore,  a  man  can  be  found,  so  uttei^ly  de- 
praved, as  to  have  no  spark  of  spiritual  life  remaining  in  him,  not  a  single 
good  thought,  no  desire  to  do  what  is  right,  because  it  is  right,  no  move- 
ment of  godly  sorrow  for  things  done  wrong,  no  wish  for  amendment, 
nothing  but  sullen  hatred  of  all  goodness,  hatred  of  God,  and  hatred  of  his 
fellow-men — of  such  a  man,  if  such  can  be  found,  we  might  fear  that  it  may 
be  true  that  he  has  quenched  the  spirit,  the  living  fire,  that  was  once  kindled 
by  God's  grace,  within  his  heart,  he  has  crushed  out  and  killed  the  spiritual 
life,  that  was  given  him  in  his  second  spiritual  birth,  as  a  redeemed  crea- 
ture ;  as  he  shows  no  sign  of  having,  in  any  measure,  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 


160  EPISTLE   TO    THE    ROSIANS. 

it  may  be  that  he  has  none  of  it,  and  if  so,  he  cannot  be  His.  Yet,  let 
every  man  judge  himseh":  we  cannot  dare  to  judge  our  brother-man  in  this 
way.  And,  blessed  be  God,  the  converse  is  also  true.  If  any  man  have 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  any  measure,  and  however  he  may  have  trifled  with 
the  heavenly  gift,  and  resisted  the  grace  of  God,  '  that  was  for  leading  him 
to  repentance,'  still  feels  within  him  one  movement  of  spiritual  life,  by  that 
sio-n  he  may  know  that  he  is  still  one  of  Christ's,  still  regarded  as  in  Him, 
still  able  to  draw  from  the  Fount  of  Life,  which  is  opened  in  Him,  all  the 
plentiful  supply  which  he  needs  for  his  fainting  spirit. 

247.  V.  10.  the  hody^  indeed^  is  dead,  hy  reason  of  sin ;  hut  the  spirit 
is  life,  by  reason  of  righteousness.  St.  Paul,  in  this,  and  other  passages, 
which  shall  be  noted  as  we  reach  them,  speaks  of  the  spirit  being  even  now 
alive  with  life  flowing  from  the  Spirit  of  Christ ;  whereas  the  body,  he  says, 
is  still  dead,  it  has  not  received  life,  so  as  to  be  a  fit  servant  of  the  living 
spirit,  a  spiritual  body.  The  resurrection  of  the  spirit  has  already  taken 
place  ;  the  resurrection  of  the  body  is  yet  to  come.  The  spirit  is  life,  be- 
cause of  the  righteousness  which  God  has  given  us  in  His  Son.  By  our 
natural  birth  only,  it  lay  under  the  power  of  Sin  and  the  necessity  of  Death, 
as  well  as  the  body ;  but  already  a  new  life  has  been  given  to  it ;  it  is  re- 
deemed and  quickened  by  union  with  Christ's  Spirit.  The  body,  however, 
is  not  yet  redeemed  ;  it  is  dead,  because  of  the  sin  in  our  fleshly  nature,  in 
that  nature  which  we  derive  from  Adam,  and  to  which  our  bodies  belong. 
It  is  still  under  the  necessity  of  dying,  before  it  can  be  redeemed  altogether 
from  the  power  of  that  '  sin  in  the  flesh,'  which  uses  too  often,  and  tries 
continually  to  use,  the  natural  bodily  desires  and  its  members,  as  servants 
of  imrighteousness,  to  do  its  will,  against  the  better  law  of  the  mind  and 
spirit.  But  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  will  make  the  grave  a  gate  of 
life  even  for  our  mortal  bodies,  as  the  Apostle  goes  on  to  explain  in  the 
next  verse. 

248.  V.  11.  If  the  Spirit  of  Him,  who  raised  Jesus  from  the  dead, 
dwell  in  you,  6:c.  If  it  be,  indeed,  true,  as  you  know  it  is,  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  dwelleth  in  you, — the  Spirit  by  whom  He  Himself,  our  Head,  was 
raised  from  the  dead,  never  more  to  die.  His  mortal  body  being  changed  to 
a  glorified,  spiritual  body, — this  fact  itself  is  a  pledge  that  you  also  will  in 
like  manner  be  raised,  by  the  power  of  the  self-same  Spirit,  and  this  mortal 
body  of  yours  shall  put  on  immortality,  and  this  corruptible  shall  put  on 
incorruption ;  when  the  body  also  shall  be  redeemed  from  the  power  of 
evil,  and  this  sinful,  fleshly  nature  be  wholly  done  away,  and  the  glorified 
body  be  a  willing  servant  of  the  spirit  in  the  work  of  righteousness. 


CHAP.  VIII.  12—17.  161 


CHAP.  YIII.   12—17. 

(12)  So,  then,  brethi'en,  we  are  debtors,  not  to  the 
flesh,  to  live  after  the  flesh;  (13)  for,  if  ye  will  live, 
after  the  flesh,  ye  will  die  ;  but,  if  by  the  spirit  ye  put 
to  death  the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live.  (14)  For 
ail,  who  are  being  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these  are 
sons  of  Grod.  (15)  For  ye  received  not  a  Spirit  of 
slavery  again  unto  fear ;  but  ye  received  a  Spirit  of 
adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  'Abba  !  Father  ! '  (16)  The 
Spirit  itself  witnesseth  with  our  spirit  that  we  are  chil- 
dren of  God.  (17)  But,  if  children,  then  also  heirs, 
heirs  of  God,  and  joint-heirs  with  Christ  ;  if,  at  least, 
we  suffer  together  with  Him,  that  so  we  may  be  glori- 
fied together  with  Him. 

NOTES. 

249.  V.  12.  So  then,  dx.  At  last,  we  get  the  full  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion in  vi.  1,  '  Shall  we  continue  in  sin  that  so  grace  may  abound  ? '  repeated 
in.  vi.  15,  '  Shall  we  sin,  because  we  are  not  under  law,  but  under  grace  ? ' 
The  Apostle  has  intended  to  give  this  answer  all  along,  but  has  been  inter- 
rupted by  two  or  three  digressions,  into  which  his  train  of  thought  led  him, 
more  suo,  while  dictating  this  letter  to  his  amanuensis,  Tertius — very  prob- 
ably on  different  occasions,  for  we  cannot  suppose  so  long  and  thoughtful  a 
letter  was  written  in  one  day. 

250.  V.  13.  ye  will  die,  not  ye  shall  die,  as  in  the  English  version,  but 
'  ye  are  about  to  die.'  The  Apostle  is  here  speaking  of  death,  as  the 
natural  necessary  consequence  of  men's  living  after  the  flesh,  not  of  any 
judgment  which  God  will  pass  upon  them.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  verse, 
the  Greek  construction  is  changed,  and  the  English  version  is  correct,  '  ye 
shall  live.' 

251.  V.  13.  if  by  the  spirit  ye  put  to  death  the  deeds  of  the  body,  that 
is,  the  deeds  of  excess,  into  which,  under  the  influence  of  the  '  sin  in  the 
flesh,'  the  helpless  body  and  its  members  would  be  carried,  if  unrestrained 
by  the  spirit,  which  has  the  power  given  it,  to  put  those  unruly  desires  to 
death,  and  should  do  so  in  the  very  first  promptings  of  them. 


162  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

252.  V.  14.  for  all,  who  are  being  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these  are 
sons  of  God.  The  point  in  the  Apostle's  meaning  in  these  words  will  be 
lost  entirely,  if  we  do  not  notice  where  the  stress  lies.  St.  Paul  does  not 
say,  '  All,  who  are  being  led  by  God's  Spirit,  they,  and  none  other,  are  the 
sons  of  God.'  But  he  throws  the  stress  (as  the  Greek  shows)  on  the  word 
Spirit,  and  says,  '  All,  who  are  being  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  arc  no 
other  than  sons  of  God.'  And  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the  chapter  is  em- 
ployed in  showing  what  glorious  consequences  follow  from  this. 

Let  us  well  mark  the  Apostle's  argument ;  it  is  the  ground  of  unspeakable 
hope  and  comfort  to  us.  The  very  fact,  he  says,  that  we  are  being  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  is  a  proof  that  we  are  dealt  with  as  sons,  that  we  may 
look  up,  and  call  the  Great  God,  our  Father.  He,  who  has  dealt  so  gra- 
ciously with  us,  as  to  give  us  His  Spirit  to  guide  and  teach  us,  means  us  to 
understand,  by  that  one  fact,  His  Fatherly  Love  to  us.  It  is  the  sure  sign 
that  He  loves  us ;  and,  blessed  be  His  Name,  it  is  an  abiding  sign.  So 
long  as  He  takes  not  from  any  man  the  light  and  life  of  His  Holy  Spirit,  that 
man  may  have  hope  ;  for  he  is  still  dealt  with  as  a  child,  and  not  as  a  foe. 
But,  if  we  know  that  we  are  being  led  by  that  Gracious  Spirit,  day  by  day, 
in  the  way  of  righteousness — that,  as  true,  obedient  children,  we  desire  to 
follow  the  guidance  of  that  Heavenly  Friend,  whose  still  small  voice  we 
hear  continually  in  our  hearts, — then  we  may,  indeed,  take  all  the  joy, 
which  this  proof  of  our  Father's  Love  is  meant  to  give  us  ;  we  may  be  sure 
of  this,  that,  fallen  and  sinful  as  we  are,  yet  are  we  regarded,  in  very  deed 
and  truth,  as  '  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Lord  Almighty.' 

253.  V.  15.  For  ye  received  not,  (kc.  '  I  say,  sons  of  God ;  for  the 
Spirit,  which  you  were  given,  under  the  Gospel,  in  Christ  Jesus,  was  not  a 
Spirit  of  slavery  again,  to  beget  fear  in  you — a  Spirit  of  slavish  fear  of  a 
holy  God — like  that  which  the  Law  by  itself,  (unrelieved  by  the  promises 
of  Gospel  Mercy  and  Forgiveness,  which  abound  in  the  Old  Testament,  as 
well  as  in  the  New,)  can  alone  bring  with  it  for  a  fallen  man.  But  it  was  a 
Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  are  enabled  to  look  up  with  cheerful  con- 
fidence, and  cry  to  Him,  Abba,  Father.' 

254.  V.  16.  The  Spirit  itself  witnesseth  with  our  spirit  that  we  are 
children  of  God.  The  Spirit  itself,  which  has  quickened  our  spirit,  bears 
witness  with  it,  that  we  are,  indeed,  God's  children.  Our  spirit  witnesses 
this,  because,  redeemed  and  quickened  by  the  Spirit  of  Life,  we  know  that 
it  delights  in  our  Father's  Will,  and  groans  over  every  word  and  act  which 
is  opposed  to  it.  We  are  grieved  with  anything  which  grieves  Him  ;  and 
so  we  are  assured  that  we  have  something  at  least  of  the  true  spirit  of  chil- 
dren. God's  Spirit  witnesseth  this  by  the  very  fact  of  its  being  with  us, 
inspiring  and  helping  us.     The  first,  the  spirit  of  a  man,  witnesses  subjec- 


CHAP.  VIII.  12—17.  163 

tively  ;  each  one  for  himself  can  feel  the  force  of  the  wi+ness.  The  second, 
the  Spirit  of  God,  by  its  very  presence  with  the  children  of  men,  witnesses 
objectively.  All  men  can  see  the  meaning  of  this  great  fact.  Whether  a 
man  hears  or  forbears  to  hear,  follows  or  refuses  to  follow,  the  voice  of  bis 
Gracious  Teacher,  yet  the  mere  fact,  tbat  the  Spirit  of  God  is  still  vouch- 
safed to  him,  imparting  to  him  light  and  life  in  any  measure,  is  a  proof  that 
he  is  treated,  not  as  an  enemy,  but  as  a  child  of  God. 

Of  course,  the  Apostle  here,  as  throughout  the  Epistle,  is  speaking  moi'e 
expressly  of  the  devout  and  faithful  Christian,  to  whom  his  words,  here  and 
elsewhere,  apply  in  all  their  fulness.  The  inward  longings  of  our  hearts, 
whereby  we  yearn  for  God,  yea,  even  the  Living  God, — which  seem  to  wit- 
ness of  our  divine  relationship,  though  we,  poor  creatures  of  the  dust,  can 
scarcely  dare  to  believe  the  evidence, — these  hidden  desires  and  aspirations 
do  yet  become  for  us  a  strong  ground  of  living  hope  and  trust,  when  we 
consider  by  whom  they  have  been  quickened,  by  whose  power  such  thoughts 
have  been  awakened  in  us — how  God  Himself  is  here  '  guiding  us  by  His 
Counsel,  that  He  may  bring  us  to  His  Glory,' — imparting  Himself  to  us  in 
some  measure  upon  earth,  that  we  may  see  His  Perfect  Beauty  hereafter, — 
giving  us  a  foretaste  of  that  blessedness,  into  which  our  Head  has  already 
entered,  and  which  shall  be  the  rich  '  inheritance  of  the  Saints  in  Light.' 
But  the  Apostle's  words  are  in  a  measure  true  of  all  men,  in  whom  the 
spiritual  life,  which  they  have  received  as  redeemed  creatures,  still  exists, 
in  whatever  degree,  not  having  been  altogether  crushed  out  and  killed,  by 
indulgence  in  known  evil. 

255.  V.  17.  joint-heirs  with  Christ.  '  Whatever  glory  shall  be  shared 
by  our  Head,  that  we  shall  share  also,'  The  words  have  an  awful  meaning 
in  them.  They  tell  us  of  a  joy  unutterable,  an  '  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory,'  which  '  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  heart  of  man 
conceived,  but  which  God  has  prepared '  for  us,  in  the  counsels  of  His 
Almighty  Love  and  Wisdom  in  Christ  Jesus. 

256.  V.  17.  ^y,  at  least,  loe  also  suffer  together  zvith  Him.  The  Apostle 
puts  in  the  necessary  correction  to  the  generality  of  his  language, — one 
which  our  own  hearts  can  supply  also.  If  we  would  reign  with  Christ,  we 
must  be  willing  also  to  suffer  with  him,  to  be  tried  and  proved  and  perfect- 
ed, as  He  was,  through  suffering,  as  our  Father  shall  appoint  for  us.  We 
too,  must  '  learn  obedience,'  as  He  did,  and  grow  in  the  true  spirit  of  chil- 
dren, by  what  we  suffer.  In  some  way  or  other,  we  must  expe-ct  to  have 
our  portion  of  suffering,  our  share  of  the  cross  in  our  passage  to  the  crown. 
Whether  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  daily  duty,  or  the  endurance  of  daily 
affliction,  the  struggle  with  some  besetting  sin,  or  the  effort  to  grow  in 


164:  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

some  Christian  virtue,  in  whatever  way  such  '  suffering '  is  appointed  for 
us,  it  does  but  witness  of  our  fellowship  with  Him,  who  for  our  sakes  suf- 
fered as  the  Son  of  Man,  that  we  might  be  made  the  children  of  God. 

CHAP.  YIII.    18—23. 

(18)  For  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  the  present 
time  are  not  worthy  [to  be  named]  with  reference  to 
the  glory  which  will  be  revealed  upon  us.  (19)  For 
the  earnest  longing  of  the  creature  is  expecting  the 
revelation  of  the  sons  of  Grod.  (20)  For  the  creature 
was  subjected  to  wretchedness,  not  of  its  own  accord, 
but  by  reason  of  Him  who  subjected  it  in  hope, 
(21)  that  the  creature  also  itself  shall  be  set  free  from 
the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  freedom  of  the  glory 
of  the  children  of  God.  (22)  For  we  know  that  all  the 
creature  groaneth  together  and  travaileth  in  birthpang 
together  until  now.  (23)  And  not  only  so,  but  even 
we  ourselves,  having  the  firstfruits  of  the  Spirit,  even 
we  ourselves,  sigh  in  ourselves,  awaiting  adoption,  the 
redemption  of  our  body. 

NOTES. 

257.  V.  18.  for  I  reckon^  &c.  The  connexion  is  obvious.  Toil  and 
trial  we  must  have  in  this  world  ;  we  must  in  our  measure  suffer  with  our 
Lord.  But  what  of  that  ?  We  shall  also  be  glorified  with  Him  ;  and  that 
should  be  enough  to  keep  us  steadfast  and  unmoveable  in  all  our  trials. 
'  For  I  reckon  that  all  the  sufferings  of  this  life  vanish  into  nothing,  in  com- 
parison with  the  Glory  which  will  be  revealed  upon  us.'  That  Glory  the 
Apostle  never  attempts  to  describe  ;  he  only  glances  at  it  in  such  passages 
as  these,  '  Eye  hath  not  seen,'  &c. ;  and  so  St.  John  says,  '  "We  know  not 
what  we  shall  be.'  To  be  like  our  Head,  and  with  Him  to  dwell  in  our 
Father's  Presence,  and  hear  His  Voice,  and  behold  His  Face,  and  go  no 
more  out  for  ever — such  is  the  wondrous  hope  of  the  Christian, — such  is 
the  glory  which  '  shall  be  revealed  upon  us,'  at  that  '  revelation  of  the 
sons  of  God,'  which  the  whole  human  race  is  expecting  with  earnest  long- 
ings. 


CHAP.  vm.  18—23.  165 

258.  V.  19.  the  earnest  longing  of  the  creature  is  expecting  the  revela- 
tion of  the  sons  of  God.  The  Greek  word  here  translated  '  creature,'  is  the 
same  which  occurs  iu  Mark  xvi.  15,  '  Preach  the  Gospel  to  all  the  creature,'' 
and  Col.  i.  23,  '  The  Gospel,  which  was  preached  to  all  the  creature  under 
heaven.'  From  these  passages  it  appears  plain  that  the  expression  is  used 
for  '  mankind,'  the  '  whole  human  race,'  '  humanity,'  with  especial  reference 
to  the  great  mass  of  it,  lying  still  in  an  unenlightened  and  degraded  state, 
but  not  excluding  the  few  to  whom  the  message  of  life  had  already  come. 
And  in  this  sense  the  Apostle  employs  it  here.  (So  Augustine,  Lightfoot, 
Locke,  Turretin,  Macknight,  &c.)  Hence,  in  verse  23,  he  selects  out  of 
'  the  creature,'  generally,  and  distinguishes,  *  us,  who  have  received  the 
firstfruits  of  the  Spirit,'  that  is.  Christians. 

Thus,  then,  St.  Paul  here  says :  '  The  earnest  longing  of  humanity  is 
waiting  for  that  day,  when  the  sons  of  God, — the  true-hearted  and  faithful 
of  every  age  and  clime, — those,  who,  with  the  light  they  had,  whether  with 
the  starlight  of  nature  only,  or  with  the  brighter  light,  as  of  a  clouded  noon, 
vouchsafed  to  the  Jew,  or  under  the  full  clear  shining  of  the  Sun  of  Right- 
eousness, have,  imperfectly,  indeed,  at  the  best,  in  every  case,  because  of 
the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  yet  with  sincerity  and  singleness  of  heart  and 
purpose,  each  according  to  his  gift,  '  persevered  in  well-doing,' — when  these 
*  shall  be  revealed,'  shall  be  disclosed  to  the  eyes  of  all,  shall  be  crowned 
with  '  glory,  honour,  and  immortality,'  and  be  called  to  '  enter  into  the 
joy  of  their  Lord.'  The  whole  of  humanity  is  looking  for  this  day,  when 
every  life  of  faithfulness  on  earth  shall  receive  its  reward,  a  reward  not  of 
debt,  but  of  grace, — when  wickedness  shall  cease  to  triumph,  and  lives  of  un- 
repented  sin  and  wilful  disobedience,  of  fraud,  injustice,  oppression,  cruelty, 
impurity,  shall  have  their  just  meed  of  retribution.  St.  Paul  seems  to  hear 
the  sighing  of  the  human  race  for  deliverance  from  the  power  of  Sin  and 
Death,  the  '  bondage  of  corruption,'  under  which  they  groan  at  present,  not 
being  as  yet  aware  of  the  redemption,  which  has  really  been  wrought  for 
them,  and  shall  in  due  time  be  made  known  to  them. 

259.  V.  20.  for  the  creature  was  subjected  to  wretchedness,  not  of  its 
own  accord,  but  by  reason  of  Him  who  subjected  it  in  hope.  The  Greek 
word,  here  translated  '  wretchedness,'  admirably  expresses  the  frailty  and 
feebleness  of  our  present  mortal  state,  subject  to  pain  and  weakness,  sor- 
row, suffering,  and  death, — that  state,  which  our  Lord  took  part  in,  and 
thereby  became  subject  to  suffering, — that  state,  in  which  we  too  must 
suffer  with  Him.  Hence  the  connection  with  the  words  preceding.  '  I 
say,  the  whole  of  humanity  is  looking  for  that  hour  ;  for  now  it  is  in  a  state 
of  feebleness,  beset  with  evil  of  every  kind,  physical  and  spiritual.' 

260.  V.  20.    not  of  its  own  accord.     To  this  state  of  feebleness  the 


166  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

human  race  was  subjected,  not  of  its  own  accord,  of  its  own  free  choice,  by 
any  voluntary  act  of  evil,  like  that  of  Adam's,  but  wholly   without  any 
blame  attaching  to  men,  for  that  state  of  vanity  in  which  they  find  them- 
selves.    The  Apostle  utterly  repudiates  the  notion,  that  any  stain  of  moral 
guilt  can  attach  to  an  innocent  infant,  for  the  corrupt  taint  in  its  nature 
derived  from  its  earthly  parents.     Nevertheless,  the  coiTuption,  the  eeed 
of  death,  is  there  in  its  nature.     It  has  been  made  subject  to  the  '  ills  that 
mortal  flesh  is  heir  to,'  not  by  any  act  of  its  own,  but  by  the  will  of  God 
its  faithful  Creator,  its  loving  Friend  and  Father,  who  was  pleased  to  '  sub- 
ject it '  to  all  this  vanity  '  in  hope.'     When  He  willed  that  the  human  race 
should  be  propagated  from  its  first  parents.  He  willed,  indeed,  that  it  should 
be  subject  to  frailty  and  to  painful  trial.     But  He  willed  also,  in  His  Faith- 
fulness and  Love  He  willed,  that  it  should  be  freed  from  any  curse,  for  the 
sinful  nature  which  it  bore,  and  that  it  should  have  part  in  a  blessed  hope. 
He  willed  that  His  own  dear  Son  should  be  its  Head,  and  overcome  Sin  and 
Death  on  its  behalf,  and  restore  to  the  whole  race  infinitely  more  than  ever 
Adam's  sin  had  lost.     The  '  vanity,'  to  which  we  are  now  subject,  we  suffer 
as  the  consequence  of  sin,  the  sin  which  we  inherit  in  our  own  nature,  by 
our  birth  from  the  first  Adam  ;  but  we  do  not  suffer  it  as  the  chastisement 
of  sin.     All  idea  of  chastisement,  or  curse,  being  laid  upon  us  for  Adam's 
sin,  or  the  '  sin  in  our  nature,'  which  we  derive  from  him,  through  no  fault 
of  our  own,  is  done  away  for  every  member  of  the  race,  by  the  fact  that  we 
have  now  another  Head,  the  second  Adam,  in  whom  the  Lord  our  God  has 
loved  and  redeemed  us.     Hence,  says  the  Apostle,  we  are  subject  to  vanity, 
not  willingly,  by  any  act  of  our  own,  but  by  reason  of  Him,  our  Heavenly 
Father,  who  has  been  pleased  so  to  subject  us,  but  to  subject  us  '  in  hope.' 
26L    v.  21.  that   the    creature  also   itself  shall  he  set  free  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption,  into  the  freedom  of  the  glory  of  the  children  of 
God. 

I  cannot  shut  my  eyes  to  the  truth,  which  these  words  appear  so  clearly 
to  imply,  that  there  is  hope  in  the  counsels  of  Infinite  Wisdom  and  Love, 
for  cdl^  for  all  '  the  creature,'  for  the  whole  human  race,  that  fell  in  Adam, 
and  has  been  graciously  redeemed  in  Christ.  The  '  children  of  God,'  the 
faithful  and  true  of  all  ages,  all  lands,  all  religions,  will^be  '  revealed,'  will 
receive  their  '  glorious  freedom '  in  the  Kingdom  of  their  Lord.  While 
others,  perhaps  the  great  mass  of  human  kind,  who  have  been  wilfully  un- 
faithful, in  greater  or  less  degree,  to  the  light  vouchsafed  to  them,  and  are 
still  willingly  held  in  the  bondage  of  corruption,  though  they  might  have 
asserted  their  freedom  from  it,  and  lived  as  good  men  and  true,  with  the 
grace  vouchsafed  to  them,  will  receive  their  righteous  judgment  unto  con- 
demnation,— '  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,  upon  every 


CHAP.  vm.  18—23.  167 

soul  of  man  that  worketh  out  evil.'  But  this  chastisement,  after  all,  comes 
from  a  Father's  Haud,  upon  those  who  may  be  wilful,  prodigal,  unruly,  dis- 
obedient, but  yet  are  creatures,  whom  He  Himself  has  redeemed,  for  whom 
Christ  died.  Can  we  say,  with  these  words  of  St.  Paul  before  us,  that  such 
chastisement,  however  severe,  may  7iot  be  remedial,  may  not  be  intended 
to  work  out  the  '  hope,'  under  which  the  whole  race  has  been  '  subjected 
to  vanity,'  which  '  hope,'  in  the  Apostle's  mind,  is  the  justification  of  the 
.Eternal  Justice  and  Love  in  so  subjecting  it,  when  it  had  not  deserved  such 
a  fate,  nor  brought  it  about  '  of  its  own  accord,'  by  any  act  of  its  own  ? 
Is  there  not  ground,  from  this  text,  as  well  as  others,  for  trusting  that,  in 
some  way  unknown  to  us,  the  whole  race  shall,  indeed,  be  made  to  share 
this  hope  at  last,  and  so  be  '  set  free  from  the  bondage  of  corruption,  into 
the  freedom  of  the  glory  of  the  children  of  God '  ? 

I  feel  it  necessary  to  say  more  on  this  subject.  There  was  a  time,  when 
I  thought  and  wrote  otherwise.  Some  years  ago,  in  the  year  1853,  I  pub- 
lished a  small  volume  of  '  Village  Sermons,'  which  I  dedicated  to  a  dear  and 
honoured  friend,  the  Rev.  F.  D.  Maurice,  and  which  was  violently  attacked, 
in  consequence  of  this  dedication,  by  those  who  had  previously  assailed  Mr. 
Maurice's  teaching,  as  containing  what  seemed  to  them  erroneous  state- 
ments of  doctrine,  and,  particularly,  as  expressing  agreement  with  Mr. 
Maurice's  views  on  the  subject  of  '  Eternal  Punishment.'  I  was  able  to 
show,  by  quotations  from  my  little  book  itself,  that  these  charges  were  un- 
true, and  that  I  had  given  offence,  partly  by  stating  larger  views  of  the  Re- 
deeming Love  of  God  in  Ckrist  Jesus,  than  the  Reviewer  of  my  Sermons 
himself  thought  it  right  to  hold,  (though  views  held  by  such  men  as  Bar- 
row and  Macknight,)  but  chiefly  by  expressing  my  cordial  sympathy  with 
Mr.  Maurice,  in  his  noble  and  blessed  labours.  In  particular,  I  was  able 
then  to  show  that,  in  several  places  in  those  very  Sermons,  I  had  distinctly 
spoken  of  Eternal  Punishment,  in  terms  directly  at  variance  with  those 
which  my  friend  would  have  used,  and  in  exact  conformity  with  the  views 
of  my  Reviewer.  Accordingly,  in  the  Preface  to  the  second  edition  of  his 
'  Theological  Essays,'  Mr.  Maurice  spoke  of  me  as  '  having  proved  by  my 
Sermons  that  I  believed  in  the  endlessness  of  future  punishments.'  I  did 
believe  in  that  dogma,  at  the  time  I  wrote  and  printed  those  Sermons,  so 
far  as  that  can  be  called  belief,  which,  in  fact,  was  no  more  than  acqui- 
escence, in  common,  I  imagine,  with  very  many  of  my  brother  clergy,  in 
the  ordinary  statements  on  the  subject,  without  having  ever  deeply  studied 
the  question,  probably  with  a  shrinking  dread  of  examining  it,  and  without 
having  ever  ventured  formally  to  write  or  preach  a  Sermon  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  pursue  it,  in  thought  and  word,  to  all  its  consequences.  There 
are  many,  who,  as  I  did  myself  in  those  days,  would  assert  the  dogma  as  a 


168  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMAICS. 

part  of  their  '  Creed,'  and  now  and  then,  in  a  single  sentence  of  a  Sermon, 
utter  a  few  words  in  accordance  with  it,  but  who  have  never  set  themselves 
down  to  face  the  question,  and  deliver  their  own  souls  upon  it  to  their 
flocks,  fully  and  unreservedly.  For  my  own  part,  I  admit,  I  acquiesced  in 
it,  seeing  some  reasons  for  assuming  it  to  be  true,  knowing  that  the  mass  of 
my  clerical  brethren  assented  to  it  with  myself,  and  contenting  myself  with 
making  some  reference  to  it,  now  and  then,  in  my  ministrations,  without 
caring  to  dwell  deliberately  upon  it,  and  considering  what  might  be  urged 
against  it. 

The  controversy,  which  arose  about  Mr,  Maurice's  Essays,  and  my  own 
little  volume  of  Sermons,  brought  the  whole  subject  closely  before  me. 
And  for  the  last  seven  years  I  have  carefully  studied  it,  with  an  earnest 
desire  to  know  the  truth  of  God  upon  the  matter,  and  with  an  humble 
prayer  for  the  guidance  and  teaching  of  His  Holy  Spirit  in  the  search  for  it. 
I  now  declare  that  I  can  no  longer  maintain,  or  give  utterance  to,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  endlessness  of  '  future  punishments,' — that  I  dare  not  dogma- 
tise at  all  on  the  matter, — that  I  can  only  lay  my  hand  upon  my  mouth, 
and  leave  it  in  the  hands  of  the  righteous  and  merciful  Judge.  But  I  see 
that  the  word  '  eternal '  does  not  mean  '  endless.'  And,  for  such  reasons  as 
the  following,  I  entertain  the  '  hidden  hope '  that  there  are  remedial  pro- 
cesses, when  this  life  is  ended,  of  which  at  present  we  know  nothing,  but 
which  the  Lord,  the  Righteous  Judge,  will  administer,  as  He  in  His  Wis- 
dom shall  see  to  be  good. 

(i.)  There  is,  in  the  secret  heart  of  Christi|ns  generally,  a  common  feel- 
ing that  such  is  the  case.  At  this  moment,  the  great  mass  of  Christendom 
believes  in  some  remedial  process  after  death.  A  small  section  only  of  the 
Church  Universal,  a  portion  only  of  the  Protestant  body,  and  by  no  means 
the  whole  of  it,  contends  that  the  hour  of  dissolution  from  the  mortal  body 
fixes  the  condition  of  the  soul  for  ever  and  ever,  in  endless,  unutterable 
joy,  or  in  endless,  unutterable  woe.  A  very  intelligent  priest  of  the 
Abyssinian  Church,  speaking  on  this  subject  to  Dr.  Krapf,  illustrated  his 
views,  and,  it  is  presumed,  those  of  the  most  thoughtful  of  his  Church,  as 
follows,  '  It  is  true  that  those  who  die  in  sin,  have  nothing  but  darkness 
before  them.  But, /rom  behind  this  world,  there  fall  some  few  rays  of 
light  into  their  path,  which  tend  to  lighten  their  dark  night  a  little.  And, 
if  they  make  a  proper  use  of  those  rays,  they  will  increase,  and  by  degrees 
lead  them  to  a  full  light.'  {Journal  of  the  Church  Mission  to  Abyssinia 
and  Egypt,  by  Isenberg  and  Krapf,  published  by  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  p.  131.)  The  Church  of  Eome  distinctly  asserts  an  intermediate 
state  of  remedial  processes  us  a  part  of  its  Creed  ;  but  it  then  proceeds  to 
lay  down  the  laws  of  it,  which  are  not  revealed  to  us,  and  to  exercise  the 


CHAP.  VIII.  18—23.  169 

powers  of  it,  which  are  not  committed  unto  man.  Those  Protestants,  then, 
who  chng  to  this  dogma,  are,  at  all  events,  peculiar  in  their  views,  and  are 
in  a  small  minority  compared  with  the  mass  of  Christendom.  The  great 
majority  of  Christians,  pious  Eomanists,  such  as  Bossuet,  Fenelon,  Pascal, 
have  read  the  Scriptures,  and  read  them  still,  without  drawing  such  con- 
clusions, as  those  expressed  in  this  dogma,  from  the  passages  which  are 
usually  relied  upon  for  its  support,  and  which  we  must  suppose  them  to 
have  read  and  well  considered. 

(ii.)  In  fact,  whatever  explanation  may  be  given  of  those  passages,  we 
find  in  Holy  Scripture  such  words  as  these  :  '  That  servant,  which  knew  his 
lord's  will,  and  prepared  not  himself,  neither  did  according  to  his  will,  shall 
be  beaten  with  many  stripes.  But  he  that  knew  not,  and  did  commit 
things  worthy  of  stripes,  shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes.'  Luke  xii.  4Y, 
48.  Now,  whatever  those  other  passages  may  seem  at  first  sight  to  say, 
they  must  not  have  a  meaning  assigned  to  them,  which  shall  contradict 
this.  And  what  does  this  plainly  tell  us  ?  Surely,  that  there  will  be  grada- 
tions of  punishment,  as  we  generally  suppose  there  will  be  of  bliss.  But 
can  there  be  any  possible  gradations  of  endless^  infinite^  irremediable  woe  ? 
Can  the  punishment  in  any  sense  be  spoken  of  as  one  offeio  stripes,  where 
the  unutterably  dreadful  doom  is  still  assigned  of  endless  banishment  from 
the  Presence  of  God,  and  all  beautiful  and  blessed  things,  into  the  outer 
darkness,  among  all  accm-sed  things,  where  not  one  single  ray  of  Divine 
Mercy  can  ever  enter  ?  It  seems  impossible.  The  very  essence  of  such 
perdition  is  utterly,  and  for  ever  and  ever,  to  lose  sight  of  the  Blessed  Face 
of  God.  If  it  be  certain  that  never,  never,  in  the  infinite,  endless  ages  to 
come,  shall  one  ray  of  Divine  Light  shine  upon  the  gloom,  in  which  the  con- 
demned soul  is  plunged,  how  can  such  a  state  be  described  as  one  of  '  few 
stripes,'  however  differing  from  that  of  another  soul,  by  the  pangs  of  bodily 
pain  being  less  acute,  or  even  (if  it  be  conceivable)  the  anguish  of  mind 
being  less  intense  ?  One  single  ray  of  the  Light  of  God's  Countenance 
would  make  Hell  cease  to  be  Hell,  as  it  is  commonly  understood ;  for 
where  that  Light  comes,  in  any  form,  in  any  measure,  there  is  Love,  and 
where  there  is  Love,  there  must  be  Hope.  But  never  to  have  the  possi- 
bility of  again  beholding  our  Father's  Face,  that,  that  would  be  the  horror 
of  all  horrors  !  What  would  all  bodily  or  mental  pains  whatever  be,  com- 
pared with  the  anguish  of  being  shut  out  for  ever  and  ever  from  all  hope 
of  beholding  one  ray  of  that  Light  ?  And  even  bodily  or  mental  pain, 
however  diminished,  yet  if  continued  without  cessation  or  relief,  for  ever 
and  ever,  how  can  this  be  spoken  of  as  ^  few  stripes '  ?  Is  it  not  plain  that, 
but  for  a  preconceived  notion,  formed  from  other  passages,  which  shall  be 
presently  considered,  such  words  as  these  would  be  understood  at  once,  in 
8 


170  EPISTLE  TO   THE   ROMANS. 

their  natural  sense,  to  say  that  there  is  '  beating,'  indeed,  for  all,  -who 
have  '  done  things  worthy  of  stripes,'  but  in  proportion  to  the  measure  of 
the  fault  of  each  servant,  some  receiving  more,  and  some  fewer  stripes, 
as  the  righteous  Judge  shall  order  ? 

(iii.)  Further,  when  we  consider  a  multitude  of  cases,  it  is  inconceivable 
that  the  hour  of  death  should,  under  the  government  of  a  Just  and  Holy 
Judge,  draw  the  line  sharply  between  all  those  who  shall  be  admitted  to 
endless  blessedness,  and  all  those  who  shall  be  consigned  to  endless  woe. 
The  infinite  shades  of  difference,  which  discriminate  the  moral  characters 
of  men,  can,  indeed,  and  will,  be  taken  into  account  by  Him,  who  knows 
the  hearts  and  lives  of  all,  and  can  say  how  far  the  guilty  stain  has  arisen 
not  willingly — from  the  helplessness  of  childhood,  it  may  be,  or  the  ignor- 
ance of  heathenism,  from  the  fault  of  parents,  the  carelessness  of  teachers, 
the  inexperience  of  youth,  the  force  of  temptation,  the  pressure  of  circum- 
stances,— or  wilfully,  from  the  deliberate,  determined,  purpose  of  men, 
*  keeping  back  the  truth  in  unrighteousness.'  Our  God  and  Father,  Blessed 
be  His  Name,  can  take  account  of  all,  and  will  do  so,  and  judge  with  right- 
eous judgment  accordingly.  But  where  can  the  line  be  drawn  between  the 
two  classes,  when  the  nearest  members  of  the  one  touch  so  closely  upon 
those  of  the  other,  so  that  all  of  the  one  class  shall  be  admitted  at  once  to 
never-ending  bliss,  and  all  of  the  other  class  shall  be  consigned  to  never- 
ending,  infinite  woe  ?  In  point  of  fact,  how  many  thoughtful  clergy  of  the 
Church  of  England  have  ever  deliberately  taught,  in  plain  outspoken  terms, 
this  doctrine  ?  How  many  of  the  more  intelligent  laity  or  clergy  do  really, 
in  their  heart  of  hearts,  believe  it  ? 

(iv.)  For  is  no  remedial  process,  are  no  '  stripes '  whatever,  of  any  kind, 
needed  even  for  many  of  those,  who  yet,  as  we  humbly  trust,  shall  be  suf- 
fered to  enter  into  life,  whom,  at  all  events,  it  would  be  a  fearful  and  hor- 
rible thing  to  suppose  consigned  to  never-ending  misery  ?  Are  there  not 
many  Christians  to  be  met  with  daily  in  the  common  intercourse  of  life, 
persons  whom,  in  the  main,  we  must  believe  to  be  sincere  in  their  profes- 
sion, yet  whose  weak  and  imperfect  characters  often  betray  them  into  faults, 
which  are  unworthy  of  the  Name  they  bear  ?  Do  not  these  seem  to  need 
some  cleansing  process  after  death,  to  purify  their  souls  from  sin, — not  the 
sin  in  their  nature  only,  but  sin  too  often  allowed  and  indulged  in  the  life  ? 
Are  we  not,  most  of  us,  all  of  us,  conscious  to  ourselves,  of  our  own  indi- 
vidual need  of  some  such  a  gracious  operation,  to  purge  out  from  us  the 
remainder  of  corruption,  and  fit  us  for  the  more  immediate  Presence  of  our 
God  ?  Granted  that  there  will  be  vessels,  small  and  great,  in  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  and  each  vessel  full  of  its  own  sweet  joy, — children,  who  have  died 
on  the  mother's  breast,  or  who  have  only  practised  in  the  nursery  the  first 


.  CHAP.  VIII.  18—23.  171 

simple  lessons  of  love  and  duty, — boys  and  girls,  who  have  but  just  begun 
to  feel  the  power  of  evil,  and  to  learn  to  overcome  temptation, — young 
men  and  maidens,  who  have  been  called  away,  just  as  they  were  about  to 
enter  on  the  busy  work  of  life,  and  engage  in  the  conflict, — men  and  women 
in  their  prime,  who  have  been  withdrawn  from  the  battle,  while  fighting 
the  good  fight,  and  doing  their  Master's  work,  with  all  their  might,  with 
the  help  He  gave  them, — aged  saints,  who  have  '  kept  the  faith '  unto  the 
end,  and  finished  '  their  course '  on  earth,  with  ten  thousand  rich  expe- 
riences, with  deeper  knowledge  of  God's  Love,  and  of  their  own  necessities, 
— pastors  or  philanthropists  labouring  at  home,  missionaries  abroad, — 
some,  who  wait  patiently  from  day  to  day  upon  the  sick  and  dying,  others 
who  have  cast  in  their  lot,  for  love's  sake,  with  the  fallen  and  the  outcast, 
— the  soldier,  pressing  on  from  field  to  field,  in  his  path  of  duty,  the  sailor, 
from  the  sense  of  duty,  making  his  death-bed  in  the  icy  north — the  Con- 
fessor with  his  stripes,  the  Martyr  with  his  cross.  All  these,  with  their 
different  stores  of  Divine  Wisdom,  having  found  their  highest  life  while 
laying  down  the  lower  in  the  service  of  their  Lord,  shall  each,  as  we  can 
readily  conceive,  enter  at  once,  when  they  leave  this  world,  upon  a  state 
of  joy  proportioned  to  that  which  they  have  reached  here  on  earth  ;  their 
life  hereafter  will  be  continuous  with  this,  and  so  grow  on,  when  time  shall 
be  no  longer. 

But  will  not  some  of  these  need  something,  some  change  or  remedial 
process,  to  pass  upon  them,  before  they  can  enter  freely  and  fully  upon 
this  ?  One,  for  instance,  shall  have  been  brought  to  repentance  in  after 
life,  when  many  deeds  of  guilt  and  shame  have  been  registered  against  his 
soul  in  the  awful  records  of  his  memory,  and  many  a  disfiguring  scar  has 
been  left  upon  his  spiritual  frame.  To  the  last  moment  of  his  life,  these 
things  will  pain  and  grieve  him.  He  will  feel  that  they  may  be,  as  he 
trusts  they  are,  forgiven ;  but  they  are  not  wholly  done  away.  With 
memories  such  as  these  about  him,  with  scars  such  as  these  upon  him,  he 
cannot  surely  be  fitted  to  mix  at  once,  as  he  is,  with  the  pure  and  blessed 
ones ;  nay,  he  cannot  bear  the  thought  of  it  himself.  In  some  way  or 
other,  there  must  be  a  process,  be  it  long  or  momentary, — we  know  not  how 
or  what  it  will  be, — by  which  this  will  be  effected.  Having  done  '  things 
worthy  of  stripes,'  there  will  be  stripes. 

We  have  no  difficulty,  then,  in  admitting  the  idea  of  a  remedial  process 
in  the  case  of  some  after  death.  But,  surely,  the  most  saintly  character, 
when  viewed  in  the  light  of  God's  Holiness,  will  have  manifold  imperfec- 
tions, spots  and  stains,  which  he  himself  will  rejoice  to  have  purged  away, 
though  it  may  be  '  by  stripes,' — by  stripes  not  given  in  anger  and  dis- 
pleasure, but  in  tenderest  love  and  wisdom,  by  Him  who  dealeth  with  us  as 


172  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

with  eons.  If  there  be  any,  from  whom  the  Fatherly  chastenings  of  God  in 
this  life  have  already  removed  all  such  remainder  of  evil,  doubtless  they 
may  not  need  any  further  treatment  of  this  kind,  when  they  are  called 
from  their  work  in  this  world  to  enter  their  Eternal  Home.  This  may  be 
the  case,  too,  with  infants  and  young  children, — with  such  as  have  not 
transgressed,  either  wilfully  or  ignorantly,  the  Law  of  their  Lord.  But  can 
it  be  true  of  many  adult  Christians  ?  There  seems  to  be,  in  Rev.  xiv.  1 — 4, 
a  reference  to  such  as  these,  a  small  and  limited  number,  the  '  hundred  and 
forty -four  thousand,'  who  had  '  the  Father's  name  written  in  their  fore- 
heads,'— the  '  virgin  souls,'  who  '  follow  the  Lamb,  whithersoever  He 
goeth,' — who  '  have  been  bought  from  among  men,  being  the  firstfruits 
unto  God  and  the  Lamb,'  the  firstfruits,  we  may  trust,  of  a  large  and  good- 
ly harvest, — '  in  whose  mouth  was  found  no  guile,  for  they  are  without 
fault  before  the  Throne  of  God.' 

But,  in  the  case  of  the  ordinary  Christian,  of  whom  we  think  and  speak 
hopefully,  and  should  tremble,  indeed,  for  ourselves,  if  we  could  not,  yet 
how  many  defects  and  faults  of  habit  and  temper  will  still  be  found  hang- 
ing about  him,  which  unfit  him,  as  he  leaves  this  world,  for  the  Company 
in  Light.  It  may  be,  certainly,  (though  the  Scripture  says  nothing  of 
this,)  that  a  sudden  change  will  be  made ;  and,  '  in  a  moment,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,'  such  as  these  shall  find  every  such  hindrance,  to  their 
entering  at  once  upon  the  fulness  of  their  joy,  removed.  The  '  dying 
thief,'  for  instance,  viewing  his  case,  as  it  is  ordinarily  viewed,  as  one  of 
sudden  conversion  from  a  life  of  gross  wickedness, — (though  I  see  no  reason 
to  hold  that  view  myself,  it  will  serve  to  many  as  a  type  of  such  instances,) 
— may  have  been  so  purified  at  once  from  all  defilement,  his  heart  may 
have  been  so  quickened  with  the  full  burst  of  spiritual  life,  that  when,  that 
night,  he  entered  '  Paradise,'  he  found  himself  at  once,  not  merely  able  to 
rejoice  in  the  delights  of  that  blessed  abode,  but  fully  able  to  do  so, — 
without  one  memory  of  the  past  to  trouble  him,  without  one  trace  left  be- 
hind of  his  former  career  of  evil,  without  the  least  vexing  sense  of  any  loss 
he  had  experienced,  by  long  continuance  in  wilful  sin,  without  any  know- 
ledge even  of  such  loss,  without  anything  to  damp,  or  even  moderate,  his 
own  proper  measure  of  joy,  without  the  least  consciousness  that  he  had  not 
spent  his  former  life  in  perfect  purity,  as  became  a  child  of  God.  But, 
surely,  we  cannot  believe  this,  without  a  direct  revelation  to  assure  us  of  it. 
At  least,  all  the  analogies  of  this  life,  which  we  do  know,  are  against  such 
a  supposition.  They  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  we  shall  assuredly  be 
followed  in  the  next  world  by  some  recollections  of  our  doings  in  this,  by 
some  direct  consequences  of  those  doings,  whether  good  or  evil.  And,  as 
we  certainly  do  lose  ground,  in  the  way  of  Life  Eternal,  by  the  indulgence 


CHAP.  VIII.  18—23.  1T3 

of  any  habit  of  known  sin,  by  any  one  habit  of  wilful  conscious  evil,  so  the 
sense  of  such  loss  may  attend  us  in  another  world, — not  to  embitter,  but  to 
humble  and  moderate  our  joy, — to  make  us  thankful  that,  although  our  feet 
may  not  stand  at  first  so  near  the  Everlasting  Throne  as  they  might  have 
been,  but  for  our  own  past  wilful  sin  and  folly,  yet  that  there  is  progress 
and  growth  in  another  world  as  well  as  in  this. 

(v.)  For,  surely,  all  analogy  teaches  also  to  expect  this,  namely,  that 
there  will  be  growth  in  the  world  to  come  as  well  as  in  this.  Not  only  will 
they,  that  shall  shine  brightly  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  differ  from  one  another 
in  glory  at  their  first  appearing,  but  the  brightness  of  any  one  shall  change 
and  increase,  as  the  ages  roll  on.  "We  cannot  suppose  that  the  hoai-y- 
headed  Christian  of  ripe  experience,  and  the  untried  infant  or  young  child, 
— the  faithful  servant,  that  has  followed  his  Lord  through  all  trials  and 
distresses,  perchance  to  a  bloody  death,  and  he,  who,  till  a  late  hour  of  life, 
has  wasted  his  Lord's  goods  all  along  in  the  Devil's  service, — shall  begin  at 
once  equally  to  partake  of  the  joj'S  of  the  Eternal  World.  If  it  be  said 
that  the  servant  in  the  parable,  who  wrought  for  one  hour  only,  was  made 
equal  to  others,  who  had  borne  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day,  the  answer 
is  plain.  In  the  parable,  there  is  no  reference  to  the  case  of  those,  who 
had  been  often  called,  but  refused  to  work.  Those  called  last,  when  sum- 
moned, went  at  once  to  their  labour,  with,  at  least,  as  much  zeal  as  the 
first.  They  were  sitting  idle,  '  because  no  man  had  hired  them.'  And  the 
whole  parable  is  intended  to  teach  us,  what  St.  Paul  will  lay  down  more 
fully  in  this  very  Epistle,  that  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  will  '  do  what 
He  will  with  His  own.'  He  knows  where  and  how  to  reward  and  bless, 
and  where  and  in  what  measure  to  punish. 

We  can  admit,  then,  as,  in  fact,  most  thoughtful  Christians  do  admit, 
that  there  will  be  differences  at  first  in  glory  among  those,  to  whom  a  joy- 
ful entrance  shall  be  given  into  God's  Kingdom  in  Heaven, — that  there 
also,  as  on  Earth,  there  will  be  some,  who  shall  enjoy  a  closer  converse 
with  their  Lord,  and  lean,  as  it  were,  upon  His  Breast,  while  others  shall 
'  stand  and  wait '  in  His  Blissful  Presence,  though  all  shall  have  their  share 
in  the  rich  Banquet  of  His  Love.  Servants,  who  have  been  entrusted  with 
five  talents,  or  with  two,  or,  it  may  be,  with  some  small  fraction  of  a  talent, 
and  who  shall  have  been  foimd  faithful,  shall  all  together  enter  into  the  joy 
of  their  Lord.  But  they,  that  have  been  faithful  with  a  little  in  this  lower 
service,  shall  now  be  charged  with  proportionately  higher  duties,  and  more 
glorious  offices,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Light ;  he,  that  *  hath  gained  ten  pounds,' 
shall  '  have  rule  over  ten  cities,'  he,  that  hath  gained  five,  over  five. 

But,  as  we  believe  that  there  will  be  such  differences  of  glory  at  first  in 
the  Heavenly  Kingdom,  so  we  cannot  doubt  that  there  will  be  a  growth 


174  EPISTLE  TO   THE   KOMANS. 

and  progress  also  in  glory.  "We  cannot  suppose  that  the  spirit  of  an  in- 
fant, or  young  child,  will  remain  always  in  the  undeveloped  state  in  which 
death  found  it ;  nor  have  we  any  ground  whatever  to  think  that  it  will, 
suddenly,  and  in  a  moment,  expand  at  once  in  all  its  powers,  to  the  full 
perfection  of  which  it  is  capable.  Scripture  does  not  inform  us  on  the 
subject :  analogy  is  wholly  against  such  a  supposition.  In  all  nature,  there 
is  no  instance  of  such  a  sudden  start  into  fulness  of  life,  of  such  a  break  of 
continuity, — as  this  would  be.  And  would  it  not,  in  fact,  contradict  the 
very  idea  of  life  itself,  if  there  were  to  be  no  such  growth  and  progress  ? 
Are  we  not  told  that,  even  now,  to  the  principalities  and  powers  in  heav- 
enly places,  are  being  made  known  by  the  Church,  more  and  more  fully,  as 
the  ages  go  by,  the  wonderful  Wisdom  of  God  ?  Is  it  not,  moreover,  a 
main  ingredient  in  our  joy,  when  we  think  of  the  blessedness  of  Heaven, 
that  it  will  be  progressive, — that,  through  the  ages  all  along,  our  knowledge 
of  our  Father's  Glory  and  Wisdom  and  Goodness  will  ever  be  deepening, 
while,  perchance,  we  shall  be  employed,  as  ministers  of  His,  to  do  His 
Pleasure,  in  other  work  which  He  shall  find  for  us  in  His  boundless  uni- 
verse ? 

May  there  be  decrease  also  of  joy  in  Heaven  ?  We  cannot  tell.  Per- 
chance there  may  be.  Our  first  parents,  we  are  told,  were  created  innocent, 
and  placed  in  Paradise  ;  and  yet  they  fell.  We  are  told  also  that  Angels 
of  Light,  who  once  stood  near  the  Throne,  have  '  left  their  first  estate.' 
And  it  may  be  that  the  permanence  of  our  joy  hereafter  may  not  consist  in 
any  fancied  security,  as  if  evil  could  not  tempt  us,  or  reach  us  in  any  form, 
but  in  our  being  made  like  unto  the  Son  of  God,  our  Saviour,  with  bodies, 
as  well  as  spirits,  redeemed  from  sin,  and  able,  therefore,  in  that  Strength 
and  Life,  which  flows  to  us  from  Communion  with  our  Head,  to  do,  as  He 
did,  at  all  times,  when  tempted,  and  tread  our  enemy  under  our  feet.  But, 
gifted  with  higher,  more  glorious  faculties  than  those  which  we  now  have, 
and,  doubtless,  having  higher  work  to  do  in  God's  Kingdom,  why  should 
we  not  have  trial  in  that  work,  as  here, — not,  indeed,  of  our  faith,  where 
we  shall  walk  by  sight, — but  yet  of  our  faithfulness  ?  Will  the  blessedness 
of  our  future  state  be  maintained  by  our  being  absolutely  secured  from  all 
possibility  of  falling,  or  shall  we  be  left  free  agents,  as  here,  to  do  lovingly 
our  Father's  Will,  in  His  more  immediate  Presence,  with  the  glorious 
powers  which  He  will  then  impart  to  us,  and  the  glorified  spiritual  bodies 
which  we  shall  then  have  given  to  us,  in  place  of  these  corruptible  and 
mortal  tabernacles  ?  We  cannot  answer  this  question  :  we  cannot  go  fur- 
ther into  it.  For  we  touch  here  upon  that  great  mystery,  the  existence  of 
sin  and  evil  at  all  in  the  Universe,  under  the  Government  of  a  Holy  and 
Blessed  Being,  and  the  term,  and  measure  of  its  existence,  when  and  how  it 
shall  be  done  away. 


CHAP.  VIII.  18—23.  175 

(vi.)  Seeing,  then,  that  we  can  recognise  even  for  some  of  those,  "who 
in  the  main  are  good  and  true,  a  possibility,  rather,  a  probability,  and  even 
a  necessity,  of  '  stripes,'  and  a  presumption,  almost  amounting  to  certainty, 
of  growth  and  progress,  an  upward,  onward  tendency  in  the  state  of  spir- 
itual being,  in  the  world  to  come,  we  may  reasonably  recognise  something 
of  the  same  kind  as  possible  in  the  case  of  all,  of  the  whole  human  race, 
who  (as  St.  Paul  says  in  the  text  before  us)  '  shall  one  day  be  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  freedom  of  the  glory  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God.'  He,  who  has  been  pleased  to  subject  them  to  their  present 
state,  has  '  subjected  them  in  hope  '  of  this.  Stripes,  more  or  less,  accord- 
ing to  the  judgment  of  the  All-knowing  and  All-righteous,  may  be,  and, 
doubtless,  will  be,  appointed  in  His  Wisdom  and  Mercy,  for  those  who 
need  them  ;  '  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,'  must  be  the 
portion, — our  own  hearts  plainly  tell  us  this,  as  well  as  the  Bible, — of  every 
one  who  '  keepeth  back  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,'  of  every  one  who 
'  worketh  out  evil.'  We  bow  to  this  rule,  as  holy  and  righteous ;  we  glorify 
God  for  it ;  we  rejoice,  even  while  self- condemned  ourselves,  at  the  very 
idea  of  such  a  judgment  as  this.  But,  that  utter,  unspeakable  misery 
should  be  the  portion,  for  endless  ages,  for  ever  and  ever,  alike  of  all,  who 
are  not  admitted  at  first  into  the  realms  of  infinite  joy, — that  there  shall  be 
no  hope,  in  the  horrible  outer  darkness,  for  the  ignorant  young  child  of 
some  wretched  outcast,  who  has  been  noted  by  the  teachers  of  the  Ragged 
or  the  Sunday  School,  as  having  contracted  some  evil  habit,  it  may  be,  of 
lying,  stealing,  swearing,  or  indecency,  any  more  than  for  the  sensual  lib- 
ertine, who  has  spent  a  long  life  in  gratifying  his  lusts,  and  has  been  the 
means  of  that  child,  and  others  like  it,  being  born  in  guilt  and  shame,  and 
nursed  in  profligacy, — our  hearts,  taught  as  they  are  by  God's  Spirit,  in- 
stinctively revolt  at  such  a  dogma,  as  a  blasphemy  upon  the  Name  and 
Character  of  the  High  and  Holy  One,  and  refuse  to  believe  it,  though  a 
thousand  texts  of  Scripture  should  be  produced,  which  may  seem,  at  first 
sight,  to  assert  it. 

(vii.)  For  we  must  never  forget  that  this  witness  within  our  hearts  is 
the  Voice  of  God.  We  can  only  know  God,  His  moral  attributes,  His  Jus- 
tice, Mercy,  and  Truth,  by  what  we  know  in  ourselves  of  these  excellencies. 
The  Bible  reveals  to  us  the  Mind  and  Will  of  God.  Our  Blessed  Lord 
Himself,  in  His  own  Person,  exhibited  the  brightness  of  His  Father's  Glory 
to  us ;  He  showed  us  plainly  of  the  Father.  The  Spirit  now  takes  of  the 
things  of  God  and  Christ,  and  reveals  them  to  us.  But  what  would  all  this 
avail,  if  we  were  like  the  brutes  that  perish, — if  we  had  no  power  to  see 
what  is  revealed,  uncovered,  to  our  eyes, — if  we  had  no  power  to  appreciate 
the  excellency  which  we  look  upon  ?,   We  could  not  understand,  by  any 


176  EPISTLE    TO   THE    KOISIAKS. 

mere  description,  the  nature  of  a  colour  which  we  had  never  seen.  We 
must  have  something  in  ourselves,  which  bears  relation  to  that  which  is 
without,  before  we  can  apprehend,  before  we  can  know  it.  And  so  be- 
cause we  are  not  brute  creatures,  but  made  in  the  image  of  our  God  and 
Father,  wdth  our  imperfect  goodness  of  any  kind  ever  shadowing  forth, 
really  and  truly,  however  faintly.  His  Eternal,  unutterable  excellencies, — 
because  we  have  that  within  us,  which  bears  relation  to  the  Perfect  Right- 
eousness, and  Truth,  and  Love,  which  is  in  God — therefore  it  is  that  we 
recognise  and  rejoice  in  the  full  revelation  of  those  Perfections  in  our  Lord's 
own  Life,  and  the  fainter  emanations  from  the  same  blessed  Source  of 
Light,  which  we  see  in  the  better  acts  of  our  fellow-man,  or  which  we  may 
be  enabled  to  manifest  even  in  our  own.  God,  then,  has  given  this  Light 
of  the  inner  man  to  be  the  very  guide  and  polestar  of  our  lives, — that 
Light,  which  would  enable  our  minds  to  see  and  recognise,  if  we  will, 
whatever  is  properly  presented  to  them  of  the  good,  and  true,  and  pure, 
and  loving,  and  to  discern  what  is  evil,  false,  and  wicked,  even  while  our 
own  corrupt  will  may  refuse  to  embrace  what  the  mind  approves,  or  the 
man  may  deliberately  shut  his  eyes  to  the  Light,  under  the  impulse  of  lust 
or  covetousness,  passion  or  pride,  contempt  or  hatred,  and  resolve,  or,  at 
least,  be  content,  not  to  see  what  it  discloses.  That  Light  is,  in  fact,  none 
other  than  the  shining  of  the  One  True  Light  within  us,  '  which  lighteneth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,' — which  is  given  to  every  man  that 
he  may  profit  withal,  that  he  may  see  the  path  of  life  and  duty,  and  make 
good  his  way  to  the  Kingdom  of  God.  By  that  Light  within  us,  the  acts 
of  our  own  lives  must  be  judged,  and,  when  necessity  requires  it,  the  acts 
of  others  also.  By  that  Light,  the  sayings  and  doings  of  good  men,  the 
acts  of  the  Church,  the  proceedings  and  decisions  of  her  Fathers  and  Coun- 
cils, the  writings  of  Prophets  and  Apostles,  the  words  recorded  to  have 
been  uttered  by  our  Blessed  Lord  Himself,  must  all  be  tried.  '  We  must 
try  the  spirits,  whether  they  are  of  God.'  If  they  are  required,  on  the  sup- 
posed authority  of  the  Church,  or  of  St.  Peter  or  St.  Paul,  to  believe  that, 
which  contradicts  the  Law  of  Righteousness  and  Truth  and  Love,  which 
God,  with  the  finger  of  His  Spirit,  has  written  upon  our  hearts,  we  are  sure 
that  there  must  be  error  somewhere.  Either  we  have  misinterpreted  the 
words  of  Scripture,  or  we  have  missed  their  connexion,  or  we  have  lost 
sight  of  the  real  point  and  spirit  of  the  passage,  insisting  on  the  mere  letter 
of  the  word,  and  some  minor  particulars,  which  were  only  thrown  in  to  fill 
up  the  imagery,  but  were  never  intended  to  bind  our  consciences.  To  the 
man  himself  there  is  but  one  lawgiver.  He,  '  that  sitteth  upon  the  Throne, 
judging  righteously,'  has  set  His  own  Law  to  be  a  Law  of  Life  within  the 
heart  of  every  man.     Whatever  contradicts  that  Law,  whether  it  be  the 


CHAP.  VIII.  18—23.  177 

word  of  man,  or  the  dictum  of  a  Church,  or  the  supposed  teaching  of  the 
Holy  Scripture,  cannot,  ought  not  to,  be  a  Law  for  him.  Things  innumer- 
able, in  the  Scripture,  and  in  the  world  at  large,  may,  indeed,  transcend  a 
man's  intellect  and  perplex  his  understanding ;  but  he  receives  them  as 
true,  because,  in  some  way  or  other,  he  has  satisfied  his  judgment  as  to  the 
authority  on  which  they  rest.  One  has  persuaded  himself  of  the  para- 
mount authority  of  the  Church,  another  of  that  of  the  Scripture  ;  and,  hav-^ 
ing  thus  satisfied  his  private  judgment,  he  may  be  willing  to  receive  with- 
out questioning  what  appears  to  him  to  be  delivered  to  him  by  the  one  or 
the  other.  But  no  seeming  authority  of  the  Church  or  Scripture  ought  to 
persuade  a  man  to  believe  anything,  which  contradicts  that  moral  law,  that 
sense  of  righteousness,  and  purity,  and  truth,  and  love,  which  God's  own 
finger  has  written  upon  his  heart.  The  voice  of  that  inner  witness  is  closer 
to  him  than  any  that  can  reach  him  from  without,  and  ought  to  reign  su- 
preme in  his  whole  being.  The  Light,  in  which  he  there  sees  light,  the 
Voice  which  he  hears,  is  the  Light  of  the  Divine  "Word,  is  the  Voice  of  his 
Lord. 

We  may  be  certain,  then,  that  any  interpretation  of  Scripture,  which 
contradicts  that  sense  of  right  which  God  Himself,  our  Father,  has  given 
us,  to  be  a  witness  for  His  own  perfect  excellencies,  must  be  set  aside,  as 
having  no  right  to  crush  down,  as  with  an  iron  heel,  into  silence  the  in- 
dignant remonstrance  of  our  whole  spiritual  being.  And  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  there  is  such  a  remonstrance  heard  most  distinctly  in  the  heart 
of  every  man  at  first, — in  the  hearts  of  most  men,  even  when  with  their 
lips  they  may  profess  a  constrained  assent  to  it, — against  the  dogma,  which, 
indeed,  in  these  our  days,  is  very  seldom  stated  in  plain  words  in  the  pres- 
ence of  any  intelligent  congregation,  but  which  expresses  the  doctrine,  as 
usually  understood,  of  '  Endless  Punishment.'  This  dogma  makes  no  dis- 
tinction between  those  who  have  done  things  worthy  of  many  stripes  and 
those  who  have  done  things  worthy  of  few, — between  the  profligate  sen- 
sualist and  the  ill-trained  child.  And  it  is  often  so  stated  as  to  involve  the 
multitudes  of  ignorant,  untaught  heathen,  the  great  mass  of  human-kind, 
in  the  same  horrible  doom  of  never-ending  despair,  making  this  beautiful 
and  blessed  world  the  very  shambles,  as  it  were,  of  Almighty  Vengeance, 
while  some  few  individuals,  called  by  the  name  of  Christians,  but  living 
comfortably  all  the  while,  notwithstanding  their  professed  belief  that  my- 
riads of  their  fellow-men  are,  every  moment,  passing  into  perdition,  will, 
by  some  special  act  of  Divine  favour,  be  so  fortunate  as  to  be  excepted 
from  it.  I  need  hardly  say  that  the  whole  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  one 
of  the  strongest  possible  protests  against  such  a  notion. 

That,  however,  the  above  is  no  strained  representation  of  what  some 
8* 


178  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

good  men  have  taught  and  teach,  I  shall  prove  by  quoting  here  again  a 
specimen  of  such  teaching,  which  I  copy  from  pp.  251,  252,  of  the  Journal 
of  my  first  visitation  of  the  Diocese  of  Natal  (Ten  Weeks  in  Natal). 

"  I  read  the  following  passage  upon  a  scrap  of  an  American  Missionary 
Intelligencer.  It  was  the  report  of  a  colporteur,  who  was  describing  to  his 
employers  the  manner  in  which  he  conducted  his  ministry,  entering  first 
one  house  and  then  another,  and  distributing  according  to  the  necessities 
of  each.  In  one,  for  instance,  he  would  find  the  people  careless  and  negli- 
gent in  divine  things,  and  then  he  would  talk  to  them  about  the  heathen.,  and 
what  would  become  of  them.,  and  ask  what  would  become  of  themselves, 
if  they  lived  like  heathen.  '  They  would  perish  like  those  heathen ;  and 
their  children,  about  whom  they  thought  so  much,  would  twine  about  them, 
like  creepers  on  a  gnarled  oak,  and  they  would  burn — burn — burn  on,  for 
ever ! ' 

"  Here  is  another  passage  from  the  correspondence  of  a  Missionary. 
Writing  of  the  heathen,  he  says,  '  Every  hour,  yea,  every  moment,  they  are 
dying,  most  of  them  without  any  knowledge  of  the  Saviour.  On  whom, 
now,  rests  the  responsibility  ?  If  you  fail  to  do  all  in  your  power  to  save 
them,  will  you  stand  at  the  judgment  guiltless  of  their  blood  ? '  Said  a 
heathen  child,  after  having  embraced  the  Gospel,  to  the  writer,  '  How  long 
have  they  had  the  Gospel  in  New  England  ? '  When  told,  she  asked  with 
great  earnestness,  '  Why  did  they  not  come  and  tell  us  before  ? '  and  then 
added,  '  My  mother  died,  and  my  father  died,  and  my  brother  died,  with- 
out the  Gospel.'  Here  she  was  unable  to  restrain  her  emotions.  But,  at 
length,  wiping  away  her  tears,  she  asked,  'Where  do  you  think  they  have 
gone  ? '  I,  too,  could  not  refrain  from  weeping,  and  turning  to  her,  I  en- 
quired, '  Where  do  yon,  think  they  have  gone  ? '  She  hesitated  a  few  mo- 
ments, and  then  replied,  with  much  emotion,  '  I  suppose  they  have  gone 
down  to  the  dark  place — the  dark  place !  Oh !  why  did  they  not  tell  us 
before  ? '  It  wrung  my  heart,  as  she  repeated  the  question,  '  Why  did  they 
not  tell  us  before  ?  ' " 

That  such  views  as  these  are  not  confined  to  one  class  of  teachers  only, 
may  be  gathei-ed  from  another  passage,  which  I  will  now  quote,  from  a 
prayer  printed  for  the  use  of  a  Missionary  Institution  (I  am  sorry  to  say) 
of  the  Church  of  England. 

'  0  Eternal  God,  Creator  of  all  things,  mercifully  remember  that  the 
souls  of  unbelievers  are  the  work  of  Thy  hands,  and  that  they  are  created 
in  Thy  resemblance.  Behold,  0  Lord,  hoio  hell  is  filled  with  them.,  to  the 
dishonour  of  thy  Holy  Name.  Remember  that  Jesus  Christ,  thy  Son,  for 
their  salvation,  suffered  a  most  cruel  death.  Permit  not,  we  beseech  Thee, 
that  He  should  be  despised  by  the  heathen  around  us.  Vouchsafe  to  he 
propitiated  by  the  prayers  of  the  Church,  Thy  most  holy  Spouse,  and  call 
to  mind  Thine  own  compassion.' 

These  words  seemed  to  me  to  be  little  short  of  blasphemy.  And,  as  I 
have  done  before,  so  do  I  now  set  forward  these  passages,  to  enter,  in  the 


CHAP.  VIII.  18—23.  179 

Name  of  God's  Truth  and  God's  Love,  my  most  solemn  protest  against 
them,  as  utterly  contrary  to  the  whole  spirit  of  the  Gospel, — as  obscuring 
the  Grace  of  God,  and  perverting  His  Message  of  '  Goodwill  to  Man,'  and 
operating,  with  most  injurious  and  deadening  effect,  both  on  those  who 
teach,  and  on  those  who  are  taught.  If  such  were,  indeed,  the  condi- 
tion of  the  heathen  world,  how  could  a  Christian,  with  any  brotherly  love, 
with  any  love  for  his  kind  in  his  bosom,  consent  to  enjoy  for  one  moment 
any  of  the  commonest  blessings  of  daily  life  ? 

(viii.)  One  passage  of  Scripture  has  been  referred  to,  which  evidently 
points  to  some  distinction  of  Divine  chastisements,  to  some  equitable  meas- 
uring of  '  stripes,'  according  to  men's  works.  Are  there  any  others  which 
tend  in  the  same  direction  ?  There  are,  indeed,  not  many  individual  pas^ 
sages,  which  disclose  to  us  in  any  way  the  mysteries  of  the  invisible  world ; 
though  the  whole  tenor  of  Scripture  teaches  throughout  the  same  lesson, 
that  God  will  render  to  every  man,  justly  and  righteously,  according  to  his 
deeds, — to  Jew  and  Gentile,  Christian  or  Heathen,  alike,  without  respect 
of  persons,  each  according  to  the  Light  vouchsafed  to  him,  each  according 
to  the  talents,  or  the  merest  fraction  of  a  talent,  committed  to  his  charge. 

But  attention  may  be  called  to  such  passages  as  the  following. 

Matt.  X.  15.  '  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  It  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the 
land  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrha  in  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  that  city.' 

We  are  told  elsewhere  ( Jude  7)  that  '  these  cities  are  set  forth  as  an 
example,  suffering  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire.''  And  yet  here  we  find 
that,  in  the  very  midst  of  that  '  eternal  fire,'  the  punishment  shall  be  '  more 
tolerable '  for  some  than  for  others, — a  difference  shall  be  made  between 
those  who  have  sinned  very  grievously  in  their  heathen  state  in  ignorance 
of  the  Gospel,  and  those  who  have  wilfully  shut  their  eyes  to  the  Light 
which  came  to  them,  and  loved  the  darkness  rather  than  the  light,  because 
their  deeds  were  evil. 

How  is  it  possible  that  the  judgment  in  one  case  should  be  '  more  tol- 
erable '  than  in  the  other,  if  in  both  the  same  ingredient  is  found,  which 
is  the  very  essence  of  the  woe  of  Hell,  as  popularly  understood,  namely, 
the  horror  of  helpless,  hopeless  misery,  in  utter,  dark  despair,  shut  out  for 
endless,  endless  ages,  from  any  possibiHty  of  ever  seeing  again  one  single 
ray  of  the  Light  of  God's  Mercy  ?  And  what  right  have  we,  poor,  wretch- 
ed, ignorant  creatures  of  the  dust,  thus  to  limit  the  Mercies  of  our  God,  to 
bind  Him  down  to  our  narrow  notions  and  positive  interpretations  of  one 
or  two  passages  of  Scripture,  when  yet  the  whole  tenor  of  the  Sacred  Book, 
and  other  separate  passages,  and  our  human  hearts  also,  with  their  best  and 
and  strongest  utterances,  are  manifestly  teaching  us  a  diSerent  lesson  ? 
If,  indeed,  the  '  eternal  fire '  be  the  ever-burning  wrath  of  a  Holy  Being 


180  EPISTLE   TO    THE    KOJSIANS. 

against  all  sin,  that  is,  against  all  wilful  evil,  so  long  as  that  evil  continues  to 
exist,  it  is  conceivable  that  they,  who  sinned  against  their  better  light  and 
knowledge  in  Sodom  and  Gomorrha,  and  they  that  have  similarly  sinned 
under  the  Gospel,  may  alike  be  subjected  to  the  vengeance  of  that  fire ; 
and  that,  on  those  who  had  more  light  given  them  than  others,  and  have 
most  abused  it,  the  judgments  will  be  sorer  and  more  permanent.  But, 
were  there  not  infants,  too,  and  young  children — perhaps  maniacs, — in 
Sodom  and  Gomorrha?  Were  these,  too,  sunk  in  infinite  and  endless 
horror  ? 

Luke  xvi.  We  have  in  this  chapter  the  story  of  Lazarus,  in  which  our 
Lord  assumes  that,  even  in  the  place  of  torment,  there  will  be  loving,  ten- 
der thoughts,  in  a  brother's  heart.  If  there  can  be  such,  as  they  cannot 
come  from  the  Spirit  of  Evil,  they  must  be  believed  to  come  from  the 
Spirit  of  all  Goodness.  While  there  is  life,  there  is  hope.  In  fact,  the 
rich  man  is  represented  as  less  selfish  in  the  flames  of  hell  than  he  was  in 
this  life.     The  Eternal  Fire  has  already  wrought  some  good  result  in  him. 

1.  Cor.  iii.  13,  &c.  'Every  man's  work  shall  be  made  manifest:  for 
the  day  shall  declare  it,  because  it  shall  be  revealed  by  Fire  ;  and  the  Fire 
shall  try  every  man's  work  of  what  sort  it  is.  If  any  man's  work  abide 
which  he  hath  built  thereupon,  he  shall  receive  a  reward.  If  any  man's 
work  shall  be  burned,  he  shall  suffer  loss :  but  he  himself  shall  be  saved ; 
yet  so  as  by  fire.' 

The  Apostle  is  evidently  referring  to  the  *  glorious  appearing  of  the 
Great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ ; '  and  seems  to  be  adopting  the 
powerful  images,  used  by  the  Prophet  Daniel,  to  express  the  glory  of  that 
day  (Dan.  vii.  9,  &c.).  '  The  Ancient  of  days  did  sit ;  His  throne  was  like 
the  fiery  flame,  and  His  wheels  as  burning  fire  ;  a  fiery  stream  issued  and 
came  forth  before  Him  ; '  or  that  of  Mai.  iv.  1,  '  Behold,  the  day  cometh 
that  shall  burn  as  an  oven,  and  all  that  do  wickedly  shall  be  as  stubble.' 
So  here,  '  the  day  will  be  revealed  with  Fire,  and  the  Fire  will  pi-ove  each 
man's  work,  of  what  sort  it  is.'  The  '  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones,' 
and  all  that  is  permanent  and  enduring,  whatever  is  true  and  good,  inde- 
structible and  eternal,  in  every  man's  work,  will  remain,  unscathed  by  the 
Fire,  as  it  passes  over  it,  and  he  that  wrought  it  shall  have  his  reward  from 
his  Lord.  But  the  '  wood,  hay,  and  stubble,'  that  which  is  unsound  and 
rotten,  will  be  destroyed,  and  the  unfaithful  worker  shall  suffer  loss,  shall 
be  mulcted  or  fined,  though  he  himself  shall  be  saved,  yet  as  one  escaping 
through  the  midst  of  fire.  What  these  figurative  words  exactly  intimate, 
it  is  not  necessary,  and  it  may  be  difficult,  to  decide.  But  they  must  mean 
something;  and  they  plainly  imply  a  righteous  judgment  of  some  kind, 
from  which  Christian  Teachers,  though  they  '  shall  be  saved,'  shall  not  be 


CHAP.  VIII.  18—23.  181 

exempt.  And,  what  is  true  of  Teachers,  is  true  of  Christians  generally. 
Will  not  that  Eternal  Fire,  with  which  that  day  shall  be  revealed,  burn  up 
the  '  wood,  hay,  and  stubble '  in  the  work  of  every  man,  leaving  only  the 
'  gold  and  silver,'  that  which  has  been  good,  and  true,  and  pure,  and  loving 
in  his  life,  that  which  is  right  and  sound  in  his  heart  ?  Shall  we  not  all  be 
exposed  to  that  Fire,  and  need  to  be  so  ;  though  with  some  its  work  may 
soon  be  completed,  with  others  it  may  burn  long  and  fiercely  ? 

(ix.)  But  are  there  not  other  passages  which  plainly  imply  that  the 
wicked  shall  'go  into  Everlasting  Fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his 
angels,' — to  the  place  '  where  their  Worm  dieth  not,  and  the  Fire  is  not 
quenched  ? ' 

Certainly  there  are ;  only  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  word  '  endless ' 
is  not  a  proper  representative  of  the  word  '  Eternal '  or  '  Everlasting,' — not 
because  it  says  too  much,  but  because  it  says  too  little.  '  Everlasting '  im- 
plies life,  permanence,  unchangeableness ;  '  endless '  is  a  mere  empty  nega- 
tive, and  expresses  nothing  but  that  the  object  is  without  an  end.  We  can 
speak  of  the  Everlasting  God,  and  of  the  Living  God,  instead  of  saying 
the  Eternal  God ;  but  we  feel  at  once  how  empty  is  the  formula,  if  we 
speak  of  the  Endless,  or  the  Deathless,  Being.  Surely  there  is  an  Eternal, 
or  Everlasting,  Fire, — understanding  the  word  'Fire,'  of  course,  not  lit- 
erally, but  of  a  figure,  to  represent  the  Divine  Anger  and  Displeasure, 
which  always  has  been  burning,  and  ever  will  be  burning,  with  a  living, 
permanent,  unchangeable  flame,  against  all  manner  of  evil,  so  long  as  there 
is  evil  to  be  destroyed  by  it.  While  evil  rules  in  a  man,  he  must  be  sub- 
ject to  that  Displeasure,  because  the  master  is,  whose  slave  the  man  is, 
whose  service  he  has  chosen.  It  is  so  in  this  life,  and  the  man  is  conscious 
of  it  at  times,  though  at  others  he  may  beguile  away  by  occupation,  busi- 
ness, or  pleasure,  the  burning  sense  of  that  Displeasure.  But  the  time 
will  surely  come,  when,  either  in  this  life,  it  may  be,  or  in  the  life  to  come, 
it  will  be  revealed  fully — that  Divine  Anger, — that  Eternal  Fire, — which  is 
burning  against  sin,  against  all  wilful,  allowed  evil.  And  he  will  not  be 
able  to  escape  it.  It  may  be  needful  that  there  should  be  a  dreadful  hor- 
ror in  his  chastisement,  which  figures  such  as  these  shadow  forth.  He  must 
be  made  to  feel  the  gnawing  of  the  undying  Worm,  which  writhed  at  times 
within  him,  and  stung  him,  in  the  rebukes  of  his  guilty  conscience,  even  in 
this  life ;  but  then  it  will  be  commissioned  to  do  thoroughly  the  work  which 
is  needed.  He  must  bear  the  pain  of  the  unquenchable  Fire,  the  sense  of 
God's  just  Anger,  which  he  cannot  now  put  away. 

But  where  are  we  told  that  those,  who  are  thus  committed  to  the 
*Worm'  and  to  the  'Fire,'  shall  abide  with  them  for  ever  and  ever? 
'  Their  Worm,'  the  sense  of  guilt  which  preys  upon  them,  and  '  the  Fire,' 


182  EPISTLE    TO    THE    KOMANS. 

the  consuming  anger  of  God,  are  '  eternal  realities,'  not  like  the  worm  and 
fire,  in  Gehenna,  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  which  consumed  the  offal  of  the 
Jewish  city,  which  were  things  transient  and  temporal,  of  this  world  only, 
and  dealt  mei-ely  with  externals,  the  things  of  time  and  sense,  the  mere 
flesh  and  bones  that  were  cast  to  them.  This  Worm  and  this  Fire,  of  which 
we  are  now  speaking,  have  to  do  with  eternal  realities,  with  the  spirit  of 
man  and  his  spiritual  body ;  they  are  things  permanent  and  substantial,  of 
which  such  things,  as  were  before  their  bodily  eyes,  were  mere  earthly 
shadows.  We  cannot,  indeed,  conceive  how  this  Fire  and  Worm,  in  the 
eternal  world,  will  act  to  produce  their  effects,  of  clearing  away  all  filth 
and  corruption,  that  nothing  unclean  or  defiling,  no  lie  or  abomination, 
may  remain  undevoured  or  undestroyed.  At  the  best,  the  Fire  and  the 
Worm  are  but  figures  meant  to  shadow  forth  to  us  the  things  that  shall  be. 
As  many  leave  this  world,  whether  in  Heathen  or  in  Christian  lands,  it  may 
seem  to  us  almost  past  belief  that  the  vessel  so  defiled  should  ever  be 
cleansed  again,  and  made  fit  for  the  Master's  use.  And  it  may  be  so ; 
we  cannot  assert  to  the  contrary,  whatever  hidden  hope  we  may  entertain. 
Yet, — as  those  who  looked  upon  the  fall  of  man,  must  have  seen  with  dis- 
may the  vessel,  which  God  had  fashioned  for  Himself,  polluted  with  sin,  and 
yet  saw  afterwards  the  Wisdom  and  Love,  which  was  worldng  all  the  while, 
and  out  of  that  death  brought  abundance  of  life, — so  may  there  be  a 
triumph  yet  resei-ved  of  light  over  darkness,  of  good  over  evil,  when  the 
Son  shall  have  put  down  all  enemies  under  His  feet,  and  God  shall  be  all 
in  all. 

That  Fire,  we  have  seen,  will  '  try  every  man's  work,  of  what  sort  it  is,' 
and  some  will  '  suffer  loss '  in  that  day,  while  others  shall  '  receive  a  re- 
ward.' The  work  of  some  will  '  be  burned,'  while  they  themselves  shall 
be  '  saved,  yet  so  as  by  fire.'  And,  with  regard  to  others,  may  not  that  same 
Fii-e  hold  them,  until  it  has  burnt  up  thoroughly  all  evil  within  them  ?  It  is 
this  evil^  which  God  hates,  upon  which  His  wrath  is  revealed,  against  which 
His  anger  burns,  for  which  the  Fire  is  kindled, — this  evil,  which  is  destroy- 
ing His  children.  If  the  blessed  Gospel  message  of  their  Father's  Love, 
though  heard,  is  disregarded,  yet,  surely.  He,  who  loves  them  still  though 
prodigal  children,  will  chasten  them  in  His  Mercy  that  He  may  bring 
them  back  unto  Himself.  The  chastisement  may  begin  in  this  life :  how 
do  we  know  that  it  will  end  here  ?  The  great  mass  of  Christendom,  at  all 
events,  believes  that  it  will  not  end  here  for  all  men.  And  may  it  not  be 
true  that  the  error  of  the  Church  of  Rome  is  not  in  its  merely  maintaining 
this  principle,  to  which  our  human  reason,  under  the  impulses  of  human 
feeling  and  the  common  sympathies  of  our  nature,  and  gmded  by  certain 
passages  of  Scripture,  would  lead  us,  but  in  its  laying  down  a  system  of 


CHAP.  VIII.  18—23.  183 

Purgatory  by  the  mere  imaginations  of  men,  and  undertaking  to  administer 
the  affairs  of  the  eternal  world?  Has  the  Mercy  of  God  never  cut  off  the 
life  of  a  bad  man,  as  well  as  a  good  man,  to  save  him  from  evil  to  come, — 
to  prevent  him  from  plunging  further  on  into  guilt,  and  having  the  evil  so 
made  to  be  a  part  of  himself  that  even  the  Fire  of  Hell  may  not  avail  to 
burn  it  out,  without  destroying  the  living  being  also  ? 

And,  when  we  consider  also  how  many  of  those  who  have  died  in  peni- 
tence, may  have  been  guilty  themselves  of  coi-rupting  and  ruining  others, 
who  have  run  a  short  course  of  sin,  and  been  cut  off"  in  impenitence,  have 
we  no  reason  to  believe  that,  in  some  way  or  other,  those  who  were  once  the 
cause  of  this  defacement  of  God's  image  in  the  persons  of  their  fellow-men 
or  women,  may  likewise  have  a  share  assigned  to  them  in  the  work  of  res- 
toration,— may  never  attain, — (and,  indeed,  it  is  inconceivable  that  they 
should  attain,  if  the  things  of  this  world  are  at  all  remembered  in  the  next, 
as  we  suppose  they  will  be, — )  their  own  full  joy,  until  the  evil  they  have 
done  shall  have  been,  by  God's  Mercy,  undone,  and  the  powers  of  Hell 
vanquished,  and  swallowed  up  in  life  ? 

Such  questions  as  these  have  been  brought  again  and  again  before  my 
mind  in  the  intimate  converse  which  I  have  had,  as  a  Missionary,  with 
Christian  converts  and  Heathens.  To  teach  the  truths  of  our  holy  religion 
to  intelligent  adult  natives,  who  have  the  simplicity  of  children,  but  withal 
the  earnestness  and  thoughtfulness  of  men, — to  whom  these  things  are  new 
and  startling,  whose  minds  ai*e  not  prepared  hj  long  familiarity  to  acquiesce 
in,  if  not  receive,  them, — is  a  sifting  process  for  the  opinions  of  any 
teacher,  who  feels  the  deep  moral  obligation  of  answering  truly,  and  faith- 
fully, and  unreservedly,  his  fellow-man,  looking  up  to  him  for  light  and 
guidance,  and  asking,  '  Are  you  sure  of  this ? '  'Do  you  know  this  to  be 
true ?  '  'Do  you  really  believe  that  ? '  The  state  of  everlasting  torment 
after  death,  of  all  impenitent  sinners  and  unbelievers,  including  the  whole 
heathen  world,  as  many  teach,  is  naturally  so  amazing  and  overwhelming 
an  object  of  contemplation  to  them,  and  one  so  prominently  put  forward 
in  the  case  of  those,  who  have  been  under  certain  Missionary  training,  that 
it  quite  shuts  out  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  the  Fatherly  relation 
to  us  of  the  Faithful  Creator.  The  conscience,  healthy,  though  but  im- 
perfectly enlightened,  does  not  answer  to  such  denunciations  of  indiscri- 
minate wrath,  and  cannot,  therefore,  appreciate  what  is  represented  as 
redeeming  Love,  offering  a  way  of  escape.  Hence  missionaries  often  com- 
plain bitterly  of  the  hardness  of  heart  of  the  heathen,  and  say  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  awaken  them  to  a  sense  of  sin.  Yet,  without  such  conscience  of 
sin  in  the  hearer,  the  threats  of  Divine  vengeance  can  produce  no  feeling 
but  aversion  and  a  determinate  unbelief. 


*  t 


184:  EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 


These  are  questions  Avhich  deserve  to  be  seriously  pondered.  We  shall 
have  occasion  presently  to  return  again  to  some  of  them.  And,  though 
we  may  not  be  able  to  give  a  positive  answer  to  them, — though,  for  rea- 
sons of  His  Wisdom,  our  Heavenly  Father  has  not  seen  it  good  to  reveal 
to  us  the  state  of  the  invisible  world,  or  permitted  us  to  get  more  than  a 
mere  glimpse  of  the  things  behind  the  veil, — yet  they  may  serve  to  check 
in  us  the  spirit  of  positive  dogmatism  in  such  matters ;  they  are  enough  to 
remind  us  that  these  things  are  too  high  and  too  deep  for  us  mortals  to 
profess  to  comprehend ;  and  so  we  may  leave  them  calmly  in  the  Hands  of 
Him,  who  '  doeth  all  things  well.' 

262  V.  22.  for  we  know  that  all  the  creature  groaneth  together^  d'c. 
We  know  that  all  men,  everywhere,  are,  more  or  less,  travailing,  as  it  were, 
in  pain,  oppressed  by  physical  and  spiritual  evil,  by  the  presence  of  sick- 
ness, suffering,  and  death,  and  the  more  baleful  consequences  of  sin  in 
themselves.  But  these  pains,  though  they  may  not  know  it,  are,  in  truth, 
birthpangs,  which,  though  to  be  endured  for  a  while  by  the  Will  of  Him, 
who  has  '  subjected  the  whole  race  in  hope,'  are  yet  tending  to  a  better 
state  of  things  hereafter.  The  very  fact  that  we  are  all  suffering  here, 
'not  of  our  own  accord,'  but  through  the  Will  of  Him  who  has  sub- 
jected us  to  suffering,  is  adduced  here  by  the  Apostle,  as  a  reason  why  we 
may  hope  for  some  future  great  deliverance.  So  far  from  being  a  thing  to 
drive  us  to  despair,  under  the  government  of  a  just  and  righteous  Being, 
our  '  Faithful  Creator,'  it  is  a  thing  to  give  us  ground  of  hope  for  the  whole 
race. 

263.  V.  23.  and  not  only  so,  d'c.  And  not  only  so,  but  even  we  our- 
selves, we,  Christians,  who  have  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit, — who  are  the 
first  to  have  been  gladdened  with  the  full  tidings  of  our  Father's  Love,  and 
who  are  assured  of  it  by  the  constant  Presence  of  His  Holy  Spirit  with 
us,  not  merely  as  in  the  days  of  old,  when  the  Sj^irit  taught  us,  indeed,  as 
it  taught  all  men,  though  the  Jews  above  all  others,  but  with  the  mightier 
influences,  which  have  been  at  work  in  our  hearts  since  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  God  in  the  flesh,  even  we  still  groan  within  ourselves,  from  day  to  day, 
conscious  of  infirmity,  made  aware  that  we  too,  like  the  rest  of  our  race, 
have  been  made  '  subject  to  vanity,'  have  been  brought  into  the  world 
by  the  Will  of  our  Creator,  as  fallen  creatures,  though  redeemed  creatures 
also. 

264.  V.  23.  expecting  adoption.  The  Apostle,  then,  regarded  even 
Christians  as  not  yet  '  adopted,'  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  though,  of 
course,  they  were  adopted  iu  that  lower  sense,  in  "^liich  all  mankind  are 
adopted  to  be  children  of  Ggd,  and  in  the  higher  sense,  in  which  Christians 
are  said  to  be  '  adopted,'  declared,  avouched,  to  be  children  of  God,  receiv- 


CHAP.  VIII.  24—27.  185 

ing  each  for  himself,  personally,  in  baptism  a  formal  outward  sign  of  ratifi- 
cation of  that  adoption,  which  they  shared  already,  independently  of  the  sign, 
with  the  whole  race.  There  is,  still,  according  to  St.  Paul,  a  third,  and  yet 
"hio^her,  sense,  in  which  the  expression  may  be  used,  to  intimate  that  full 
and  complete  reception  before  the  eyes,  as  it  were,  of  the  assembled  Uni- 
verse, into  the  family  of  God  in  Heaven,  into  His  very  Home,  into  His  own 
more  immediate  Presence,  which  will  be  vouchsafed  to  all  who  have  been 
found  faithful  upon  earth,  (as  St.  Paul  assumes  those  to  be  to  whom  he  is 
writing,)  in  the  day  when  the  '  sons  of  God,'  the  good  and  true  of  every  age 
and  country  and  creed,  shall  be  manifested. 

265.  V.  23.  the  redemption  of  our  body.  This  final  adoption  will  be 
evidenced  by  the  '  sons  of  God '  having  bodies  also  given  to  them,  fitted  for 
their  glorious  state,  redeemed,  as  the  spirit  is  already,  from  the  conse- 
quences of  sin,  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death,  which,  by  reason  of  the  '  sin 
in  our  nature,'  still  has  power  to  '  war  in  our  members '  against  the  better 
law  of  our  mind,  to  abuse  the  natural  desires  of  the  body,  and  to  tempt  the 
will  to  consent  to  sin.  We  shall  never  be  released  from  this,  and  fully  re- 
deemed, until  the  body  is  taken  to  pieces,  and  we  receive  a  new  spiritual 
body,  after  the  fashion  of  Christ's  glorious  body,  which  will  be  henceforth 
a  walling  servant  of  the  law  of  Righteousness,  and  cheerfully  obey  the  high 
behests  of  the  spirit,  in  doing  the  Will  of  its  Lord. 

CHAP.  VIII.   24-27. 

(24)  For  in  hope  we  were  saved.  But  hope,  being 
seen,  is  not  hope  ;  for,  what  one  sees,  why  does  he  also 
hope  for  ?  (25)  But  if,  what  we  see  not,  we  hope  for, 
then  do  we  with  perseverance  expect  it.  (26)  And 
likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmities.  For 
what  we  should  pray  for,  as  we  ought,  we  know  not ; 
but  the  Spirit  itself  intercedeth  for  us  with  sighs  not 
uttered.  (27)  But  He,  who  searcheth  the  hearts, 
knoweth  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  because,  ac- 
cording to  God   the  Spirit  intercedeth  for  the  saints. 

NOTES. 
266.    V.  24.  in  hope  we  were  saved.     '  We  were  saved  in  hope,'  says 
the  Apostle.     Our  salvation  was  wrought  in  the  counsels  of  God's  Wisdom, 


186  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

from  all  eternity,  though  wrought  in  time  when  our  Blessed  Lord  had 
finished  His  Work.  And  still  the  same  counsels  of  Wisdom  have  made 
our  salvation  not  a  matter  of  right  at  present,  but  one  of  trust  and  hope. 
'  We  were  saved  in  hope '  also,  at  the  time  God's  message  in  the  Gospel 
came  home  to  our  hearts,  and  was  embraced  by  us.  This  is  God's  Will, 
for  pui-poses  of  His  own  Almighty  Wisdom,  that  we  shall  not  see  plainly, 
with  our  bodily  eyes,  the  certainty  of  these  things,  but  shall  see  them  with 
the  eyes  of  our  mind,  with  the  eyes  of  faith  and  hope,  ever  realizing  them 
more  surely  and  fully,  as  we  walk  more  closely  with  God.  We  are  to  take 
God  at  His  Word,  and  beheve  that  we  are  justified,  children,  beloved, 
though  we  see  in  ourselves,  and  in  our  brethren,  and  in  the  state  of  things 
around  us  in  the  world,  so  much  which  apparently  contradicts  that  belief. 
We  have  however,  much,  very  much,  to  reassure  us,  in  what  we  can  see 
of  our  Father's  *  loving-kindness  to  man '  in  general,  and  of  His  special 
mercies  to  ourselves  in  particular.  'Whoso  is  wise,  will  ponder  these 
things,  and  they  shall  understand,'  in  some  measure,  '  the  Goodness  of  the 
Lord.'  And  we  have  the  abiding  pledge  of  His  Favour  in  the  help  and 
teaching  of  His  Holy  Spirit.  So  that  we  may  boldly  say,  '  The  Lord  our 
God  is  with  us ;  who  or  what  shall  be  against  us  ?'  We  may  confidently 
trust  and  believe  in  our  Father's  Love ;  and  believe  also  that  this  '  vanity,' 
from  which  we  now  suffer,  shall  be  done  away  hereafter,  as  He  has  prom- 
ised, and  we  shall  be  set  free  in  our  bodies  also,  as  we  are  already  in  our 
spirits,  from  the  consequences  of  the  Fall.  Just  so  was  Abraham  made 
righteous,  yet  only  '  in  hope,'  by  God's  assuring  grace,  not  by  any  thing 
he  had,  or  could  have  seen,  in  himself  before  this  declaration,  nor  by  any 
change  he  saw  or  felt  in  himself  after  it.  He  continued  still  the  same  im- 
perfect, unrighteous  being,  in  himself,  that  he  had  always  been  from  his 
birth-hour.  It  was  purely  the  outspoken  word  of  grace  which  he  had  to 
trust  to,  declaring  that,  in  God's  sight,  he  was  regarded  as  righteous  then 
and  there,  though  he  felt  in  himself  unrighteousness,  and  pledging  God's 
faithfulness  to  confirm  the  truth  of  this,  by  certain  gracious  consequences, 
to  be  wrought  out  for  him  and  for  his  seed  hereafter.  He  '  believed  in  hope,' 
until  out  of  his  body,  as  good  as  dead,  was  raised  up  in  Isaac  a  new  life, 
and  he  saw  thus  far  the  completion  of  the  promises,  and  saw  by  faith  yet 
brighter  things  to  come. 

267.  V.  25.  then  do  we  with  perseverance  expect  it.  This,  the  Apostle 
means  to  say,  is  one  consequence,  at  all  events,  of  our  being  saved  thus 
'  in  hope,'  and  not  '  by  sight.'  We  cannot  sound  all  the  depths  of  the 
Divine  Wisdom.  But  this  we  can  see,  that  this  expecting,  and  having  to 
wait  for,  the  full  enjoyment  of  our  privileges,  is  part  of  our  training,  part 
of  that  gracious  discipline,  which  God  uses,  to  beget  in  us  the  true  spirit 


CHAP.  VIII.  24—27.  187 

of  His  children,  that  of  '  patient  continuance  in  well-doing,'  as  being  good 
in  itself,  and  sure  of  his  ultimate  blessing,  however,  for  the  present,  it 
may  be  attended  with  all  manner  of  '  tribulations.'  It  is  His  Will  that  we 
shall  be  thus  taught  to  '  persevere,'  to  '  quietly  hope  and  patiently  wait  for 
the  salvation  of  God.'  It  is  thus  that  He  designs  to  raise  up  for  His  ser- 
vice hereafter,  not  mere  machines,  but  living  agents  of  His  Will,  inspired 
with  His  Spirit,  and,  of  their  own  free  choice, — like  sons  and  daughters, 
well-trained  in  childhood  under  due  restraints,  but  now  grown  up  to  exer- 
cise the  functions  of  maturer  life, — by  no  constrained  compulsion,  from  no 
mere  selfish  principle,  because  they  will  then  see  and  enjoy  abundantly 
the  things  they  now  hope  for, — obeying  cheerfully  and  lovingly  the  in- 
spiration. Whether  any  other  system  of  education  would  have  suf- 
ficed for  this,  it  passes  all  our  power  to  know  or  think.  But  this  is  what 
our  Father  has  ordained  for  us,  not  merely  as  a  correction  of  the  evil 
of  the  Fall,  as  if,  when  He  made  man  at  first,  His  purpose  was  really 
blighted  by  the  cunning  of  the  Tempter,  and  by  the  folly  of  the  creature 
He  had  made.  But  the  mystery,  which  St.  Paul  discloses,  as  now  reveal- 
ed in  the  Gospel,  is  this,  that,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  this  was 
the  Will  and  Purpose  of  the  Almighty,  to  gather  up  all  things  in  Christ  as 
their  Head.  The  Fall  of  Man  was  permitted  as  a  part  of  this  Divine 
scheme ;  but  so  that,  as  in  the  first  Adam  all  died,  in  the  second  Adam  all 
might  be  made  alive,  and  blessings,  infinitely  more,  be  bestowed  upon 
every  member  of  the  race,  through  the  obedience  of  the  one,  than  were 
lost  by  the  disobedience  of  the  other.  Such  is  the  doctrine  of  St.  Paul,  in 
chap.  vi.  of  this  Epistle.  It  is  only  intelligible  when  we  take  it  in  con- 
nexion with  the  words  of  chap.  viii.  which  are  now  before  us,  and  those 
which  we  have  just  been  considering,  '  the  whole  of  humanity  is  expecting 
the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God.' 

268.  V.  26.  likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmities^  dse.  Like- 
wise, also,  in  addition  to  the  encouragement  which  our  Iiope  of  the  glorious 
future  gives  us,  we  have  the  present  comfort  and  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Our  Father's  loving  Voice  is  heard  by  means  of  His  Spirit,  speaking  in  the 
very  centre  of  our  being,  very  near  and  very  close  to  us, — the  Spirit  bear- 
ing witness  with  our  spirits  that,  indeed,  we  are  His  children.  The  feeble, 
incoherent  cries  which  we  utter,  while  our  will  obeys  the  law  of  our  spirit, 
have  a  meaning  given  them  by  the  Father  of  spirits,  when  He  hears  them. 
He  hears  in  them  the  voice  of  His  own  good  Spirit,  under  whose  influences, 
acting  on  our  spirits,  and  through  them  on  our  obedient  wills,  those  cries 
are  uttered.  Our  thoughts  are  oftentimes  too  deep  for  words.  The  desires, 
which  swell  our  hearts,  cannot  be  expressed  in  human  language.  But  those 
longings,  which  He  Himself  has  quickened,  those  sighings  of  desire,  which, 


188  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

under  the  gracious  inspirations  of  His  Spirit,  our  inner  man  is  ever  breath- 
ing forth  towards  Him,  and  towards  the  remembrance  of  His  Holiness  and 
Love,  He  bears,  though  unuttered.  It  is  His  own  gracious  Will,  part  of 
the  wondrous  provision  which  He  has  made  for  us,  that  His  Spirit  should 
thus  abide  with  us,  and  teach  us,  and  work  in  us,  and  breathe  in  our 
breath  of  prayer,  and  speak  in  our  words  of  truth,  and  act  in  our  deeds  of 
faithfulness  and  love.  When  all  other  things  fail  us,  and  the  Scripture 
itself  becomes,  as  it  has  at  times  become  to  many,  as  it  may  for  a  moment 
become  to  us,  a  source  of  doubt  and  perplexity,  instead  of  a  spring  of 
hope,  yet  about  this  there  need  to  be  no  doubt  in  the  heart  of  any  man, 
that,  so  long  as  we  have  one  single  good  thought  or  wish  within  us,  one 
wish  to  be  drawn  nearer  to  God,  or  to  be  rid  of  the  besetting  evil  which 
plagues  us,  we  have  a  sign  that  the  Spirit  of  our  Father  is  present  even 
now  with  our  spirits,  is  witnessing  even  now  with  our  spirits  that  we  are 
not  treated  as  aliens  and  foes,  but  as  children.  For  the  Spirit  of  God  is 
even  then  '  helping  our  infirmities,'  and  '  making  intercession  for  us,'  in 
God's  o^Ti  way,  by  His  own  express  appointment,  '  according  to  His  Will.' 

CHAP.  YIII.   28—30. 

(28)  We  know  too  that,  to  those  who  love  Grod,  all 

things  work  together  for  goodj  being  called  according 

to  a  purpose.      (29)  For,  whom  He  foreknew.  He  also 

marked  out  beforehand  to  be  conformed  to  the  image 

of  His  Son,  that  so  He  might  be  the  firstborn  among 

many  brethren.     (30)   But,  whom  He  foreknew,  those 

He  also  called ;  and,  whom  He  called,  those  He  also 

justified  ;    and,   whom    He    justified,   those   He   also 

glorified. 

NOTES. 

2G9.  V.  28.  We  know  too  that^  to  those  who  love  God^  all  things  work 
together  for  good,  being  called  according  to  a  purpose.  Not  only  have  we 
the  assurance  of  our  justified  state  before  God,  and  the  hope  of  future 
glory  to  cheer  us,  and  the  present  help  and  comfort  of  the  Spirit  to  sustain 
us,  amidst  all  the  '  tribulations,'  bodily  and  spiritual,  of  this  pi-esent  state 
of  '  vanity,'  to  which  it  is  God's  Will  to  '  subject '  us,  but  we  know  that  our 
very  trials  themselves,  both  of  body  and  mind,  are  all  working  out  together 
good  for  us,  for  us  who  '  love  God,'  and  desire  that  our  Father's  Will  may  be 


CHAP.  VIII.  28—30.  189 

wrought  in  us  and  by  us.  We  know  this,  because  we  '  have  been  called 
according  to  a  purpose.' 

The  Apostle  is  speaking  expressly  of  Christians  who  have  been  called 
to  the  knowledge  of  God's  Grace  in  the  Gospel,  and  have  embraced  lov- 
ingly their  Father's  Message  of  Life.  But  the  words  are  true,  of  all  men, 
everywhere,  who  have  obeyed  the  call,  however  called,  however  awakened. 
It  is  true  that,  '  loving  God,'  listening  to  the  Voice  which  speaks  within 
them,  continuing  patiently  in  well-doing,  according  to  that  measure  of  the 
Perfect  Law  of  Truth,  and  Righteousness,  and  Purity,  and  Love,  which 
has  been  revealed  to  them,  '  all  things  shall  work  together  for  their  good,' 
inasmuch  as  they,  too,  have  been  '  called  according  to  a  purpose.'  Not 
without  *  purpose  '  has  the  wox'd  of  God  been  carried  to  the  heart  of  any 
man.  Not  without  a  meaning  has  the  Light  of  Life  been  given  to  lighten 
any  man  that  has  come  into  the  world.  It  is  an  express  token  of  God's 
Favour  to  that  individual  man — a  sign  of  God's  '  Purpose  '  towards  him, 
that,  taught  by  that  Word,  and  lightened  by  that  Light,  he  should  become 
ever  more  and  more  '  conformed  to  the  image  of  His  Son,' 

2*70.  v.  29.  whom  He  foreknevj^  &c.  What  does  St.  Paul  mean  by  this 
expression?  Shortly  after,  he  says,  (xi.  2,)  '  God  hath  not  cast  away  his 
people,  whom  He  foreknew^  It  is  plain  that  He  means  to  speak  of  the 
people  of  Israel,  as  having  been  fixed  upon  beforehand  in  the  Providence 
of  God,  to  receive  certain  special  signs  of  His  Favour,  bestowed  upon  the 
whole  people, — though  many  of  them,  individually^  were,  in  fact,  unfaith- 
ful and  disobedient,  while  others,  as  infants  and  young  children,  at  all 
events,  could  have  had  no  title  whatever  to  share  in  such  grace,  except  as 
being  members  of  a  family,  which  God  had  '  foreknown '  for  blessing. 
Just  so  here,  those,  whom  God  '  foreknew '  for  special  gifts  of  His  Grace, 
are  the  whole  body  of  those,  who  have  actually  received  the  awakening, 
inward  call  of  God's  Spirit  in  their  hearts,  not  merely  the  outward  call  of 
the  minister  or  missionary,  which  may  not  reach  the  conscience  of  the 
hearer,  often  through  the  many  defects  of  the  preacher,  and  through  no 
fault  of  the  man.  But,  whenever  God  Himself  has  '  called '  a  man,  there 
He  had  a  gracious  '  purpose '  specially  towards  that  individual  man,  He 
'  foreknew '  him  for  a  special  blessing, — namely,  to  be  brought  more  and 
more  into  '  conformity  to  the  image  of  His  Son.'  The  man  may  obey  the 
call  of  God's  Spirit,  or  not ;  he  may  surrender  his  will  to  be  led  by  the 
Divine  Guide,  or  he  may  resist  and  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Grace.  But 
God's  gracious  purpose  remains  the  same  in  thus  calling  him.  Whomso- 
ever He  called,  He  tneant  to  be  made  more  and  more  like  unto  their  Lord-, 
He  '  marked  them  out  beforehand  to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  His 
Son.'     That  many  fall  short  of  this  end,  for  which  they  were  called,  for 


190  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

which  they  were  foreknown,  is  true,  as  many  fell  short  of  the  end  for 
which  God  foreknew  the  people  of  Israel.  But  the  mind  and  loving  pur- 
pose of  God  remains  the  same. 

And  this  is  the  point  on  which  the  Apostle's  stress .  is  laid  in  this  pas- 
sage, namely,  that  Christians  should  have  the  most  entire  undotihting  con- 
fidence in  the  Goodwill  of  their  Heavenly  Father  towards  them.  He,  for 
His  part,  is  faithful,  who  has  called  them  to  His  Kingdom  and  Glory. 
Having  received  the  call,  they  may  be  sure  that  they  are  meant  for  a 
glorious  end,  and  that  nothing  will  be  wanting,  in  the  wise  provisions  of 
their  Father's  Love,  which  is  needed  to  accomplish  that  end.  He  fully 
intends  to  bless  us,  every  one  of  us,  whom  He  calls  to  the  knowledge  of 
His  Love.  We  are  not  called  idly^  by  chance,  as  it  were,  or  merely  to  be 
saved  from  the  yawning  gulf  of  perdition,  which  is  all  ready  to  swallow  us 
up,  while  the  mass  of  the  human  race  are  left  to  perish  most  miserably. 
But  He  has  called  us  with  a  clearer  voice  than  others.  He  has  specially 
called  us  near  unto  Himself  for  a  special  end,  with  an  express  purpose  in 
view,  that  we  should  be  '  conformed  to  the  image  of  His  Son.'  God,  in  the 
infinite  counsels  of  His  Wisdom,  from  all  eternity,  foreknew  us  for  this, 
that  His  Son  should  be  our  Head,  should  be  '  the  first-bom  of  many 
brethren,  and  we  all  should  be  made  like  unto  Him.'  His  purpose  is  to 
'  bring  many  sous  to  glory,'  to  have,  as  it  were,  a  chosen  inner  family  of 
sons  and  daughters,  who  shall  dwell  nearer  to  the  Throne  than  others,  all 
like  unto  their  Elder  Brother,  all  willing  servants  of  Righteousness,  and 
Truth,  and  Purity,  and  Love. 

2*71.  V.  80.  xohom  He  foreknew,  those  He  also  justified,  d'c.  If  this, 
then,  be  God's  purpose  in  calling  us,  if  He  predestined  us  for  this  particular 
end,  how  can  we  doubt  that  He  will  make  all  things  work  together  towards 
effecting  that  purpose,  towards  attaining  that  end  ?  See  every  step  of  the 
work  He  does  Himself,  most  graciously  and  lovingly  showing  forth  His 
goodwill  towards  us  !  Behold  how  '  all  things  are  of  God  ! '  He  '  called  ; ' 
He  'justified ; '  He  '  glorified.'  He  '  called'  you,  for  He  sent  His  message 
of  Life  to  you,  and  brought  home  His  Word,  with  power  to  your  hearts, 
by  His  Spirit.  He  'justified  you,'  for  He  made  you  partakers  of  the  Death 
of  His  Son.  He  '  glorified '  you,  for  He  made  you  partakers  of  His  Life  ; 
He  gave  you  a  new  life,  which  you  possess  now  by  virtue  of  the  share  you 
have  in  His  glorious  Resurrection-Life,  and  which  is  a  pledge  to  you  of 
yet  fuller  life,  and  brighter  glory  hereafter. 


CHAP.  vm.  31—39.  191 


CHAP.  VIII.    31—39. 

(31)  What  shall  we  then  say  to  these  things  ?  If 
God  be  for  us,  who  is  against  us  ?  (32)  He,  surely, 
who  spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  gave  Him  up  for  us 
all,  how  shall  He  not  with  Him  also  freely  give  us  all 
things  ?  (33)  Who  shall  bring  charges  against  God's 
chosen  ones  ?  It  is  God  who  justifies.  (34)  Who  is 
he  that  condemns  ?  It  is  Christ,  who  died,  yea,  rather 
who  was  also  raised  again,  who  is  also  on  the  right  hand 
of  God,  who  also  intercedes  for  us.  (35)  Who  shall 
separate  us  from  the  Love  of  Christ  ?  Shall  tribula- 
tion, or  anxiety,  or  persecution,  or  hunger,  or  naked- 
ness, or  peril,  or  sword  ?  (36)  As  it  is  written,  '  For 
Thy  sake  we  are  being  put  to  death  all  the  day ;  we 
were  counted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter.'  (37)  Nay, 
in  all  these  things,  we  are  more  than  conquerors  through 
Him  that  loved  us.  (38)  For  I  am  persuaded  that 
neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities, 
nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come, 
(39)  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall 
be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  Love  of  God,  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

NOTES. 

272.  Thanks  be  unto  God  for  this  glorious  Gospel,  the  words  of  which 
are  so  plain,  that  he  who  runs  may  read  them  !  But  note  that,  through- 
out, the  Apostle  is  speaking  of  God's  Love  to  us,  not  of  ours  to  Him — of 
the  Father's  Love,  that  holds  His  fearful  child  to  His  bosom,  not  of  the 
feeble  clinging  of  the  childish  arm  around  Him.  He  is  speaking  also  not 
merely  of  the  Love  of  Christ  towards  us,  but  of  the  '  Love  of  God  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  The  spirit  of  these  words  is  applicable  to  every 
member  of  the  human  race.  They  are  all  under  the  same  '  Faithful  Crea- 
tor,' who  '  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself,'  who  is  the 


192  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

*  Saviour  of  all  men,  though  in  a  special  sense,  of  Christian  believers,' 
■who  '  gave  His  Son  us  a  ransom  for  all,  to  be  testified  in  due  time,'  who 
'  set  forth  His  Son  as  a  propitiation,  not  for  our  sins  only,  but  also  for  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world.'  But  the  Apostle's  language  is  specially  true  of 
those  who  have  received  their  Heavenly  Father's  call  in  the  Gospel,  to 
come,  as  God's  chosen  ones,  and  be  consciously  embraced  in  His  Love. 
He  has  chosen  and  foreknown  them  for  a  most  gracious  purpose.  He  has 
assured  them  that  He  Himself  justifies  them.  Who  then  is  left  to  con- 
demn them  ?  We  know  that  He  spared  not  His  own  dear  Son,  but  gave 
Him  to  be  our  Head,  our  Elder  Brother,  to  take  part  with  us  in  all  things, 
that  become  a  true  Man,  to  live  and  labour,  to  suffer  and  die,  with  us  and 
for  us.  How  then  should  He  withhold  any  other  blessing  that  we  may  need, 
when  He  has  thus  so  freely  given  us  the  chiefest  proof  of  His  Love,  the 
very  central  essence  of  all  blessing  ?  He  has  raised  Him  also  from  the 
dead,  and  placed  Him  as  our  King,  at  the  right  hand  of  power,  and  made 
Him  our  Advocate  and  Intercessor.  What  shall  separate  us  from  His 
Love  ?  These  little  things  of  earth,  by  which  our  faith  and  patience  are 
daily  tried,  these  accidents  of  life,  which  may  take  from  us  many  blessings 
and  comforts,  can  they  take  from  us  this,  in  having  which  we  have  all  ? 
Nay,  in  all  things  we  are  more  than  conquerors,  we  triumph  in  life, 
through  our  Father's  Love.  That  Love  is  shed  abroad  in  us,  by  His 
Spirit,  in  the  very  midst  of  these  tribulations.  They  do  but  serve  to 
deepen  in  us  the  assurance  that  He  loves  us,  and  is  making  all  thinks  work 
together  for  our  good. 

CHAP.  IX.    1—13. 

(1)  I  speak  the  truth  m  Christ,  I  lie  not,  my  con- 
science also  hearing  me  witness  in  the  Holy  Spirit, 
(2)  that  there  is  great  grief  to  me,  and  unceasing  pain 
to  my  heart.  (3)  For  I  was  wishing  to  be  myself  ac- 
cursed from  Christ  for  my  brethren's  sake,  my  kinsmen 
according  to  the  flesh  ;  (4)  men  who  are  Israelites, 
whose  is  the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and  the  covenants, 
and  the  giving  of  the  Law,  and  the  service  of  divine 
tvorsMp,  and  the  promises,  (5)  whose  are  the  Fathers, 
and  from  whom  is  Christ,  according  to  the  flesh.  God, 
who  is  over  all,  is  Blessed  for  ever  !     Amen.     (6)  But 


CHAP.  IX.  1—13.    •  193 

it  is  not  possible  that  the  word  of  God  has  utterly- 
failed.     For  not  aU,  who  are  horn  of  Israel,  are  Israel. 

(7)  Neither,  because  they  are  the  seed  of  Abraham,  are 
all  children  ;    but,  '  in  Isaac  shaU  thy  seed  be  called  :' 

(8)  that  is  to  say,  not  the  children  of  the  flesh  are 
children  of  God  ;  but  the  children  of  the  promise  are 
to  be  reckoned  for  a  seed.  (9)  For  the  word  of  the 
promise  is  this,  'With  reference  to  this  time  I  will 
come,  and  to  Sara  there  shall  be  a  son.'  (10)  And  not 
only  so,  but  there  was  also  Rebecca,  having  conceived 
by  one  man,  Isaac,  our  father.  (11)  For  when  they 
were  not  yet  born,  and  had  not  done  anything  good  or 
evil,  that  so  the  purpose  of  God  according  to  choice 
might  stand,  not  in  consequence  of  works,  but  of  Him 
that  calleth,  (12)  it  was  said  to  her,  '  The  elder  shall 
serve  the  younger  ; '  (13)  as  it  is  written,  '  Jacob  I 
loved,  but  Esau  I  hated.' 

NOTES. 

273.  V.  1.  I  speak  tJu  truth  in  Christ,  I  lie  not.  Why  such  strong 
asseveration  ?  Because,  after  what  he  had  before  written,  it  might  almost 
seem  as  if  he  did  not  care  so  much  for  his  own  people  as  a  true  Jew  ought ; 
moreover,  his  enemies,  if  they  reached  Rome,  as  they  might  do  at  any 
moment,  would  be  sure  to  bring  this  charge  against  him ;  and,  lastly,  be- 
cause he  is  about  to  enter  more  deeply  into  the  whole  question  of  the  re- 
jection of  the  Jews  from  their  place  of  honour  in  God's  Kingdom. 

274.  V.  3.  /  was  wishing  to  be  myself  accursed  from  Christ  for  my 
brethreii's  sake.  Doubtless,  the  Apostle  meant  exactly  what  he  says  in  this 
verse.  '  I  was  wishing,'  the  thought  crossed  my  mind,  the  wish  arose  in 
heart,  that,  if  I  could  purchase  the  welfare  of  my  people,  by  my  own  utter 
loss,  so  greatly  is  my  love  to  them,  I  would  gladly  be  content  to  do  so. 
It  is  the  expression  of  an  affectionate  and  fervent  heart.  We  need  not 
suppose  that  he  sat  down  deliberately  to  calculate  all  the  consequences  of 
being  accursed  from  Christ,  or  had  them  before  his  eye  distinctly,  Avhen 
he  uttered  the  wish.  Probably,  he  referred  at  the  moment  more  to  the 
blessings  he  should  lose  than  to  the  woe  he  should  suffer,  by  using  the  ex- 

9 


194:  EPISTLE  TO  THE   ROMANS. 

pression,  '  accursed  from  Christ,' — ^to  the  sacrifice  of  that  happy  confidence 
and  bright  hope  and  living  joy,  which  he  now  had  in  his  Master's  service, 
and  in  daily  communion  with  Him, — to  the  sense  of  darkness  which  would 
attend  a  state  of  separation  from  Christ, — rather  than  to  the  '  Fire '  and 
the  '  Worm,'  the  '  weeping  and  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.'  And,  of 
course,  the  wish  would  be  constantly  put  down  by  the  thought  that  the 
thing  was  impossible.  St.  Paul's  words,  in  fact,  are  similar  to  those  of 
Moses,  when  he  prayed  (Ex.  xxxii.  32)  that  God  would  '  blot  out  his  name 
from  the  Book  of  the  Righteous.' 

275.  V.  4.  the  glory.  From  the  order  of  the  words,  this  does  not  mean 
the  Shechinah,  which  was  only  given  after  the  '  covenants'  and  the  '  giving 
of  the  Law,'  but,  rather,  the  glory  which  attached  to  the  *  adoption,'  in- 
dicated in  the  promises,  '  Abraham  shall  surely  become  a  great  and  mighty 
nation,' — '  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  through  him,' — '  I 
will  bless  her,  and  she  shall  be  a  mother  of  nations ;  kings  of  people  shall 
be  of  her,'  &c.,  with  many  other  like  words  addressed  directly  to  them- 
selves in  the  law.  The  'covenants,'  made  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob  :  the  '  service'  of  the  tabernacle,  laid  down  minutely  in  the  Law :  the 
'  promises '  made  to  the  Fathers,  and,  throughout  the  Law,  to  the  people 
themselves :  the  '  Fathers,'  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  all  the  great 
men  of  old,  as  Moses,  Joshua,  David,  Solomon,  &c. 

2*76.  V.  5.  God^  who  is  over  ally  is  Blessed  for  ever !  These  words  are 
now,  by  some  of  the  best  interpreters,  separated  from  the  preceding.  The 
Greek  distinctly  admits  of  it,  and  it  appears  to  be  required  by  the  fact  that 
the  phrase  '  Blessed  for  ever,'  is  never  once  used  of  Christ,  in  the  New 
Testament.  A  Christian,  with  a  Jewish  education,  would  always  use  them 
of  God  the  Father  (Rom.  i.  25  ;  Mark  xiv.  61 ;  Luke  i.  68  ;  2  Cor.  i.  3 ; 
xi.  31 ;  Eph.  i.  3  ;  1  Pet.  i.  3).  In  2  Cor.  xi.  31,  nearly  identically  the 
same  words  are  found  as  here.  The  Fathers,  though  they  generally  apply 
these  words  to  Christ,  yet  unanimously  agree  that  the  expression,  '  God 
over  all,'  is  properly  used  of  the  Father  alone.  The  only  difficulty  is  to 
see  exactly  the  thread  of  the  Apostle's  discourse  at  this  point.  That,  after 
speaking  of  our  Lord  as  coming  of  Israel,  '  according  to  the  flesh,'  he 
should  break  out  into  speaking  of  Him  as  glorious  according  to  the  Spirit, 
is  very  natural,  and  just  what  he  has  done  in  Rom.  i.  4.  And,  certainly, 
if  his  language  admitted  of  it,  we  might  conclude,  with  the  great 
majority  of  interpreters,  that  this  is  what  he  is  doing  here.  But,  to  my 
own  judgment,  the  words  do  not  admit  of  being  referred  to  our  Lord,  for 
the  reasons  above  given.  And  the  connexion  of  St.  Paul's  ideas  seems  to 
be  plainly  this.  '  I  could  have  wished  to  have  been  accursed  from  Christ, 
for  the  sake  of  my  brethren,  whom  God  has  so  highly  distinguished,  [if 


CHAP.  IX.  1 — 13.  195 

that  would  have  availed  to  prevent  their  present  rejection.  But,  no ;  it 
cannot  be:  the  glory  must  depart  from  Israel:  God's  Holy  Will  be 
done,  whether  He  gives  or  takes  away !  to  that  Will  we  must  meekly  bow]. 
God  who  is  over  all  is  blessed  for  ever !  Amen.' 

277.  V.  6.  hut  it  is  not  possible  that  the  word  of  God  has  utterly  failed^ 
(jcc.  Yet  do  not  say  that  God's  promises  have  failed  in  any  way,  though 
He  does  see  good  to  withdraw  His  blessings.  He  never  made  a  promise  to 
the  mere  natural  children  of  Israel  or  of  Abraham,  so  as  to  give  any  man 
a  right  to  claim  at  His  hands  the  fulfilment  of  His  word  to  Himself,  simply 
because  He  has  come  out  of  Abraham's  loins.  On  the  contrary.  He  made 
choice  among  the  children  of  Abraham,  and  limited  the  promised  blessing 
to  Isaac.  He  made  choice  again  among  the  children  of  Isaac,  born  of  one 
and  the  same  mother,  and  limited  it  still  further  to  Jacob.  Why  may  He 
not,  with  the  most  perfect  consistency,  make  choice  among  the  children  of 
Jacob,  and  limit  the  promised  blessing  to  whom  He  wiU  among  them,  to 
those  who  walk  in  the  faith  of  Jacob,  and  of  Isaac,  and  of  Abraham  ? 
What  word  or  act  of  His  binds  Him  to  give  the  Kingdom,  which  He  has 
promised,  to  this  man  or  to  that,  merely  because  He  is  a  child  of  Abraham  ? 
On  this  ground  Ishmael  might  have  claimed,  as  well  as  Isaac,  as  being  em- 
braced in  the  first  statement  of  the  promise.  Or,  if  it  be  said  that  the 
promise  was  afterwards  limited  to  his  children  by  Sara,  then,  at  all  events, 
Esau  might  have  claimed,  who  was  Sara's  grandchild  no  less  than  Jacob, 
born  of  the  same  mother  as  Jacob,  born  not  at  another  time,  by  another 
father,  but  by  the  same  father,  and  at  the  very  same  birth.  Has  not  the 
Wisdom  of  God  in  this  way  warned  you  most  distinctly  to  put  no  trust  in 
your  mere  fleshly  descent  from  Abraham  ?  Is  it  not  set  before  you  plainly 
that  the  Holy  and  Righteous  God  will  not  put  out  of  His  own  hands  the 
distribution  of  His  blessings,  that  He  will  make  choice  among  the  sons  of 
Jacob,  as  He  did  among  the  sons  of  Isaac  and  Abraham,  and  in  every 
generation  pour  His  blessing  upon  those  who  serve  him,  counting  them, 
and  them  only,  the  true  sons  of  Israel,  the  true  seed  of  the  faithful 
Abraham  ? 

278.  V.  13.  Jacob  Iloved^  hut  Esau  I  hated.  These  words,  of  course, 
are  merely  the  strong  language  of  prophecy.  We  may  compare  them  with 
our  Lord's  words,  '  If  any  man  hate  not  his  father  and  mother,  &c.,  and 
his  own  life  also,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple.'  In  all  the  preceding  words, 
however,  and  in  what  follows,  St.  Paul  is  not  speaking  at  all  of  eternal 
salvation  and  perdition,  but  of  the  temporal  privileges  and  blessings,  by 
which  it  pleased  God  to  distinguish  some  more  than  others,  and  by  the 
proper  use  of  which  they  would  have  gained,  doubtless,  a  higher  place  in 
the  Heavenly  Kingdom,  whereas,  by  the  abuse  of  them,  they  have  sunk 


196  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

proportionally  lower  than  others.  As  regards  their  state  in  the  eternal 
world,  Ishmael  and  Esau  and  their  descendants,  (among  whom  we  may 
reckon  the  Zulus  and  Kafirs,)  stand  on  the  same  level,  and  will  be  judged 
with  the  same  righteous  judgment,  as  others  more  highly  favoured  in  this 
world  with  the  means  of  grace  and  the  hope  of  glory,  as  their  brethren  in 
the  Jewish  Church  of  old,  or  in  the  Christian  now.  All  will  be  judged  ac- 
cording to  their  works,  and  according  to  the  light  vouchsafed  to  them. 
With  reference  to  the  Light,  which  we,  Christians  of  England,  have 
received,  it  might  be  said,  in  like  manner,  '  England  has  God  loved,  and 
Africa  has  He  hated.'  Yet  not  all  English  Christians  are  children  of  the 
Light,  nor  are  all  African  heathens  children  of  Satan ;  but  those,  who  have 
received  most,  shall  have  most  required  of  them. 

CHAP.  IX.   14—17. 

(14)  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  Is  there  unright- 
eousness with  Grod  .?  Nay,  not  so.  (15)  For  He  says 
to  Moses,  '  I  will  have  mercy  on  whom  I  may  choose  to 
have  mercy,  and  I  will  have  compassion  on  whom  I  may 
choose  to  have  compassion."  (16)  So  then  it  is  not  of 
him  that  willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth,  hut  of  God 
that  showeth  mercy.  (17)  For  says  the  Scripture  to 
Pharaoh,  ^  For  this  very  thing  I  raised  thee  up,  that  I 
may  show  forth  in  thee  my  might,  and  that  my  name 
may  be  spread  abroad  in  all  the  earth.' 

NOTES. 

279.  V.  14.  valiat  shall  we  say  then?  We  have  here  the  same  question, 
so  often  repeated  before  in  different  forms.  '  Is  God,  then,  unrighteous,  un- 
just to  us,  unfaithful  to  His  word  of  promise,  in  casting  off  any,  or,  if  He  sees 
good,  all  the  people  of  Israel  ? '  Far  from  it,  says  St.  Paul.  Not  only  by 
those  instances  just  quoted,  but  by  His  distinct  words  to  Moses,  He  claimed 
for  Himself  the  right  of  distributing  His  own  favours,  of  judging  for  Him- 
self in  each  individual  case,  according  to  the  truth  and  the  right.  He  re- 
fuses to  allow  to  any  one  the  right  to  demand  at  His  hands,  in  the  case  of 
any  particular  person  or  nation,  the  fulfilment  of  a  supposed  irreversible 
decree,  whether  for  life  or  death.  No  !  God  '  will  have  mercy  where  he 
will  have  mercy.' 


CHAP.  IX.   14:— 17.  197 

The  error  of  the  Calvinist  is  in  supposing  that  this  asserts  for  the  Al- 
mighty the  power  to  act,  by  the  exercise  of  an  arbitrary  prerogative,  in 
choosing  whom  He  will  save  and  whom  He  will  cast  away.  In  point  of 
fact,  the  whole  tenor  and  object  of  the  Apostle's  words  is  expressly  to  do 
away  with  this  notion  of  an  arbitrary  election.  It  was  just  that  which  the 
Jew  of  his  day  relied  on.  He  was  one  of  the  elect.  The  Jews  were  the 
Calvinists  of  those  days,  and  believed  themselves,  as  God's  chosen  people, 
sure  of  the  kingdom.  St.  Paul  is  trying,  with  all  possible  arguments,  to 
shatter  this  fond  notion  to  pieces.  He  says,  "  No  !  God  Himself,  with  His 
own  wise,  and  just,  and  unerring  judgment,  will  pass  a  righteous  sentence 
upon  all,  whether  Jew  or  Greek,  Christian  or  Heathen.  He  will  chastise  or 
bless,  quicken  or  harden,  as  He  sees  it  good,  as  He  sees  that  the  case  and 
circumstances  require.  And  of  this.  He  gave  the  people  of  Israel  intima- 
tion abundantly,  saying  to  Moses  of  old,  '  I  will  have  mercy  ; ' "  &c. 

280.  V.  16.  so  then  it  is  not  of  him  that  ivilleth,  d'c.  So,  then,  you 
cannot,  by  willing  or  running,  gain  for  yourselves  a  place  in  God's  King- 
dom. You  must,  indeed,  both  will  and  r?<n,  by  the  help  of  that  Gracious 
Spirit,  who  worketh  in  you  '  both  to  will  and  to  do  after  God's  good  pleas- 
ure.' But  your  best  work,  all  your  wiUing  and  running,  will  fall  infinitely 
short  of  the  holy  requirements  of  God's  Law.  You  cannot  enter  His  King- 
dom in  this  way,  by  any  supposed  righteousness  of  your  own,  by  any  claim 
of  desert  on  your  part.  It  will  be  simply  of  '  God  who  showeth  mercy.' 
You  can  enter  only  through  God's  free  gift  of  grace,  bestowed  upon  faith- 
ful souls  among  you,  as  upon  faithful  souls  everywhere,  upon  Gentiles  as 
well  as  Jews, — upon  all  who  imperfectly,  indeed,  at  the  best,  yet  humbly 
and  sincerely,  seek  to  walk  according  to  that  measure  of  Light,  which  has 
been  vouchsafed  to  them,  to  '  will '  and  to  '  run '  according  to  the  truth 
which  they  know,  to  continue  patiently  persevering  in  well-doing,  accord' 
ing  to  that  which  has  been  revealed  to  them  of  the  way  of  righteousness. 

281.  V.  17.  For  says  the  Scripture  to  Pharaoh,  etc.  And  do  not  think 
that  your  exaltation  as  a  nation,  your  distinguished  privileges,  are  any 
guarantee  to  you  of  such  special  favour  as  you  imagine,  by  which  you  will 
be  screened  from  God's  anger  as  Jews,  even  though  indulging  those  very 
sins,  which  you  are  able  loudly  to  condemn  in  others.  Your  privileges, 
doubtless,  were  given  to  you  as  a  sign  of  special  favour,  but  not  such  ag 
this.  You  were  meant  to  be  God's  Ministers  of  mercy  to  all  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  and  while  daily  enjoying  yourselves  the  blessedness  of  com- 
munion with  the  true  and  living  God,  to  be  employed  as  dispensers  of  His 
Bounty  and  Goodness  to  others.  For  this  cause  God  '  raised  you  up '  as  a 
nation,  as  He  once  '  raised  up  '  Pharaoh,  and  gave  him  power,  and  wealth, 
and  dignity.     But  you  have  turned  your  blessings  into  a  curse,  as  Pharaoh 


198  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOSIANS. 

did  his  power  before  you.  Aud  may  not  your  position  before  God,  at  this 
very  moment,  as  a  nation,  be  just  the  same  as  that  of  Pharaoh,  when  it  was 
said,  '  For  this  very  thing  I  raised  thee  up,' — not,  as  thou  vainly  thinkest, 
for  thine  own  aggrandisement  and  glory,  that  thou  mightest  do  thine  own 
will,  and  work  out  thine  own  ends, — but  that  even,  in  thy  obstinacy  and 
self-will,  thou  mightest  serve  my  purpose,  and  work  out  my  end,  being 
turned  to  my  praise,  and  being  made  to  bring  glory  to  my  Name  ?  It  is 
not  meant  that  God  created  Pharaoh  for  this  express  purpose,  that  by  his 
sin  he  might  the  more  effectually  glorify  God,  But,  as  all  power  is  from 
God,  and  all  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God,  and  are  '  raised  up ' 
to  be  ministers  of  God,  to  uphold  the  good  and  to  execute  wrath  upon  them 
that  do  evil,  so  are  they  subject  to  the  control  of  Him  who  reigns  above, 
and  even,  when  like  Nero,  persecuting,  or,  like  Pharaoh,  stubborn  and  op- 
pressive, will  yet  be  made,  in  some  way  or  other,  '  ministers  of  God,'  for 
His  glory  and  our  good. 

The  being  '  raised  up,'  then,  and  distinguished  from  others  by  being  en- 
dowed with  special  privileges,  as  Jews  or  Christians,  is  no  sign  in  their 
case,  any  more  than  it  was  in  Pharaoh's,  or  in  a  thousand  other  similar 
instances,  that  they  are  regarded  as  God's  favourites,  and  will  be  exempted, 
as  such,  from  His  righteous  judgment.  As  God  made  all  the  greatness, 
which  He  gave  to  Pharaoh,  subserve,  in  spite  of  Pharaoh's  obstinacy.  His 
own  All-wise  and  Almighty  Purposes,  so  may  He  deal  with  the  Jewish 
people,  and  make  the  blessings,  which  they  have  enjoyed  in  the  past,  to  be, 
in  spite  of  their  stubborness  and  unbelief,  the  very  means  which  He  will 
use  for  showing  forth  His  Goodness,  ay,  and  His  Severity  also,  to  the 
world.  '  Do  not,  then,'  he  seems  to  say,  '  be  thinking  of  your  privileges, 
as  if  they  were  grounds  for  any  "  boasting  confidence  "  in  the  fact,  that  God 
has  called  you  to  be  His  chosen  people.  Remember  the  lesson  taught  you 
in  Pharaoh's  case,  that,  when  men  are  headstrong  and  disobedient,  their 
very  greatness  becomes  the  means  of  their  ruin,  and  makes  their  fall  the 
more  terrible  in  the  end.' 

CHAP.  IX.    18. 

(18)   So  then,  whom  He  wills,  He  has  mercy  on, 
and  whom  He  wills.  He  hardeneth. 


■'; 


NOTES. 

282.   V.  18.  Not  by  any  mere  arbitrary  proceeding,  but  by  an  unerring 
law  of  righteousness,  will  this  blessing  or  this  judgment  go  forth.     Where 


CHAP.  IX.  19—33.  199 

He  sees  a  faithful,  humble  soul,  following  the  light  already  given,  continu- 
ing patiently  in  well-doing,  according  to  the  grace  already  bestowed,  there 
He  '  wills '  to  pour  out  His  Mercy,  and  His  Hand  will  not  be  stayed,  be- 
cause that  man  is  a  heathen,  nor  hastened,  because  he  is  a  Jew  or  a  Chris- 
tian. And  where,  on  the  other  hand.  He  sees,  as  He  alone  can  see,  that 
there  is  a  *  root  of  evil '  within  the  heart,  and  men  obey  not  the  Law  of 
Righteousness  revealed  to  them,  but  yield  themselves  to  unrighteousness, 
there  He  '  wills '  to  pour  out  His  judgment.  And  what  will  the  Mercy  be  ? 
Increase  of  grace  to  those  that  use  grace,  the  softening  and  subduing,  the 
cleansing  and  purifying  of  the  heart,  while  it  grows  in  the  tempers  w^hich 
become  the  children  of  God.  And  what  will  the  judgment  be  ?  The  loss 
of  that  grace  already  received,  the  hardening  and  deadening  of  the  heart, 
which  is  the  natural  and  necessary  consequence  of  indulged  evil,  just  as  the 
growth  in.grace  is  the  natural  and  necessary  consequence  of  obedience  (see 
note  40).  '  To  them,  which  have,  it  shall  be  given,  and  they  shall  have 
abundantly ;  but  from  him,  that  hath  not,  shall  be  taken  away  even  that 
which  he  seemeth  to  have.' 

Such  is  the  present  necessary  consequence  of  such  sin.  It  does  not  fol- 
low that  there  are  no  remedial  measures,  however  painful,  which  the  Wis- 
dom and  Goodness  of  God  may  bring  hereafter,  to  bear  upon  the  man  for 
his  recovery.  The  Apostle  is  presently  going  to  speak  of  such  recovery,  as 
actually  in  store  for  the  Jewish  people  itself,  after  they  shall  have  been  cast 
off  for  a  time,  and  hardened  in  unbelief. 

CHAP.  IX.    19—33. 

(19)  Thou  wilt  say  tlien  to  me,  'Why  does  He 
still  lay  blame  ?  For  His  wish  (or  design)  who  hath 
resisted  ? '  (20)  Nay,  but  0  man,  who  art  thou  that 
answerest  back  to  God  ?  ^  Shall  the  thing  fashioned 
say  to  him  that  fashioneth,  Why  didst  thou  make  (or 
Why  didst  thou  treat)  me  thus  ?  '  (21)  Has  not  the 
potter  power  over  the  clay,  out  of  the  same  lump  to 
make  one  vessel  for  honour,  and  another  for  dishonour  ? 

(22)  What  if  Grod,  willing  to  show  forth  His  anger,  and 
to  make  known  His  power,  endured,  with  much  long- 
suffering,  vessels  of  wrath  already  fitted  for  destruction, 

(23)  and  that  He  may  make  known  the  riches  of  His 


200  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

glory  upon  vessels  of  mercy,  whicli  He  before  prepared 
for  glory  ? — (24)  whom  also  He  called  not  only  from 
Jews,  but  also  from  Gentiles ;  (25)  as,  in  fact,  He  says 
in  Hosea,  ^  I  will  call  that,  which  is  not  my  people,  my 
my  people,  and  her,  which  is  not  beloved,  beloved ; ' 
(26)  'And  it  shall  be,  in  the  place  where  it  was  said  to 
them,  Ye  are  not  my  people,  there  shall  they  be  called 
children  of  the  living  God/  (27)  Esaias  too  cries  con- 
cerning Israel,  '  Though  the  number  of  the  children  of 
Israel  be  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  yet  the  remnant  only 
shall  be  saved.  (28)  For  He  is  completing  the  matter, 
and  cutting  it  short  in  righteousness  ;  for  a  shortened 
work  will  the  Lord  make  upon  the  earth/  (29)  And  as 
Esaias  has  said  before,  '  Except  the  Lord  of  Hosts  had 
left  us  a  seed  behind,  we  should  have  become  as  Sodom, 
and  we  should  have  been  made  like  unto  Gomorrha/ 
(30)  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  That  Gentiles,  though 
not  pursuing  after  righteousness,  obtained  righteous- 
ness, a  righteousness  which  is  of  faith  ;  (31)  whereas 
Israel,  pursuing  after  a  law  of  righteousness,  did  not  get 
before  into  a  law  of  righteousness.  (32)  Why  ?  Be- 
cause they  pursued  after  a  righteousness ,  not  as  of  faith, 
but  as  of  works  of  law.  (33)  For  they  stumbled  at  the 
stone  of  stumbling,  as  it  is  written,  '  Behold,  I  lay  in 
Sion  a  stone  of  stumbling,  and  a  rock  of  tripping  ;  and 
every  one,  who  believeth  in  Him,  shall  not  be  con- 
founded.' 

NOTES. 

283.  V.  19.  2hou  wilt  say  then  to  me,  '■Why  does  He  still  lay  blame  P 
It  is  plain  that  St.  Paul  is  here  referring  back  again  to  the  same  kind  of 
arguments,  on  the  part  of  the  Jewish  mind,  as  he  had  already  silenced  in 
chap.  iii.  He  has  just  asked  (ix.  14),  '  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  Is  there  any 
unrighteousness  with  God  ? ' — a  question  precisely  parallel  to  that  in  iii.  5,  '  l3 


CHAP.  IX.  19—33.  201 

God  unrighteous,  who  taketh  vengeance  ?  '  And  now  he  repeats,  in  another 
form,  the  question  which  followed  this  in  iii.  7,  namely,  '  Well,  but  if  the 
truth  of  God,  through  my  falsehood,  abounded  to  His  glory,  why  am  I  after 
all  to  be  still  judged  as  a  sinner  ?  '  Here  he  says,  '  Thou  wilt  say  to  me, 
"  Why  does  He  after  all  find  fault  ?  for  who  hath  resisted  His  purpose  ?  " 
that  is,  if  all  my  proceedings  have  only  helped  towards  the  accomplishment 
of  His  designs,  why,  then,  am  I  to  be  blamed  ? '  To  the  question,  as  it 
stood  in  iii.  7,  he  gave  no  direct  reply,  but  broke  off  into  an  indignant  de- 
nunciation of  the  gross  immorality  involved  in  such  an  argument.  To  the 
present  question,  also,  he  gives  no  direct  reply,  but  breaks  off  into  the  im- 
piety of  a  creature  arraigning  in  this  way  the  acts  of  the  all-wise  and  good 
Creator. 

284.  V.  20.  shall  the  thing  fashioned,  <kc.  "  As  Isaiah  said  long  ago, 
'  Shall  the  clay  say  to  him  that  fashioneth  it,  what  makest  thou  ?  '  [Note 
that  the  reference  throughout  is  to  clay,  still  soft  under  the  potter's  hand, 
which  can  be  moulded  afresh,  not  to  that  which  has  been  baked,  and  hard- 
ened into  a  fixed  form.]  As  he  has  said  again,  '  We  are  but  the  clay,  and 
Thou  our  Potter,  and  we  are  all  the  work  of  Thy  Hand.'  May  not  the 
Heavenly  Potter  deal  with  the  Jewish  nation,  as  He  sees  fit,  fashioning  it 
first,  if  He  sees  good,  into  the  shape  of  a  vessel  designed  for  high  and  hon- 
ourable use  in  His  service,  and  then,  if  He  sees  that  the  vessel  is  marred  in 
the  making,  and  will  not  answer  His  purpose,  unmaking  it  again  with  a 
stroke  of  His  Hand,  and  out  of  the  selfsame  lump  making  another  vessel, 
for  dishonour,  for  some  lower  use,  which  shall  answer  His  purpose  still,  and 
be  used  in  His  service,  though  in  another  less  honourable  way  ? " 

That  the  above  is  the  true  meaning  of  the  passage,  and  that  St.  Paul  is 
not  arguing  (as  the  mere  words  of  the  Greek  and  English  would  allow  us  to 
suppose),  that  the  Potter  has  power  to  make  out  of  the  same  lump,  at 
the  same  time,  two  vessels,  at  his  own  arbitrary  will,  one  for  honour,  and 
the  other  for  dishonour  (so  as  to  support  the  Calvinistic  view),  will  be  plain, 
if  we  turn  to  the  passage  in  Jeremiah,  to  which  he  is  evidently  referring 
(Jer.  xviii.  3 — 6),  '  I  went  down  to  the  potter's  house,  and,  behold,  he 
wrought  a  work  on  the  wheels.  And  the  vessel  that  he  made  of  clay  was 
marred  in  the  hand  of  the  potter :  so  he  made  it  again  another  vessel,  as 
seemed  good  to  the  potter  to  make  it.  Then  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to 
me,  saying,  0  House  of  Israel,  cannot  I  do  with  you  as  this  potter  ?  saith 
the  Lord.  Behold,  as  the  clay  is  in  the  potter's  hand,  so  are  ye  in  Mine 
Hand,  0  House  of  Israel.'  So,  then,  the  Great  Potter,  when  a  vessel  is 
marred  in  His  Hand  in  the  making,  when  He  sees  that  a  people,  or  a 
Church,  or  an  individual,  will  not  answer  to  the  end  for  which  He  fashioned 
it,  will  make  it  into  another  vessel  for  His  use,  as  it  seemeth  good  to  Him 
9* 


202  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

to  make  it.  He  will  not  cast  it  away,  but  refashion  it,  to  serve  for  a  lower 
and  less  honourable  use  in  His  Kingdom.  '  And  so,'  says  the  Apostle, 
'  may  it  now  be  with  you.  You  were  fashioned,  indeed,  to  be  a  vessel  unto 
honour ;  Israel  was  to  be  the  Light,  and  Jerusalem  the  joy,  of  the  whole 
earth.  But  the  Potter  may  see  that  you  have  become  marred  in  His  Hand 
in  the  making.  He  may  even  now  be  fashioning  you  into  another  vessel, 
a  vessel  still  for  His  own  use,  but  for  a  lower  purpose,  that,  even  by  the 
loss  of  those  high  privileges  which  you  have  hitherto  enjoyed,  by  being  de- 
prived of  that  Glory  for  which  He  designed  you,  and  portions  of  which 
have  already  been  vouchsafed  to  you,  you  may  serve  His  great  ends,  as  a 
witness  and  a  warning  to  others,  until  the  time  of  mercy  shall  come  again 
for  you,  and  the  clay  be  once  more  taken  into  the  Potter's  Hand,  and 
fashioned  anew  at  His  Will.' 

285.  V.  22.  what  if  God^  willing  to  shoio  forth  His  anger y  dc.  '  What 
then,  if  it  should  really  be  true  that,  during  all  these  many  years,  when  you 
have  been  priding  yourselves,  in  your  own  security,  upon  your  rights  as 
children  of  Abraham,  God,  meaning  in  due  time  to  show  His  displeasure  at 
your  sins,  and  make  known  His  power  to  deal  with  you  as  to  Him  seems 
best,  has  only  been  "  enduring  "  you  with  much  long-suffering,  when  in 
reality  you  were  vessels  already  fitted,  not  by  His  Hand,  but  by  the  in- 
numerable flaws  and  imperfections,  which  your  own  iniquities  have  caused, 
and  which  the  Great  Potter  has  noted  in  you,  to  be  destroyed,  done  away 
with,  crushed  up  in  His  Hand,  and  refashioned  into  some  other  form  ? ' 

286.  V.  23.  and  that  He  may  make  known,  &c.  And  so  that  He  may 
make  known,  at  the  same  time,  the  riches  of  His  mercy  also,  upon  vessels 
of  mercy,  whom  He  before  prepared  for  glory, — prepared  them  in  His  own 
wise  way  '  beforehand,'  before  He  broke  up  the  Jewish  vessel, — for  '  glory,' 
for  a  service  more  glorious  and  '  honourable '  even  than  that  service  of 
'  honour,'  for  which  the  Jewish  vessel  had  been  originally  intended ;  and 
whom  He  called, — us,  I  mean,  not  '  only  from  among  the  Jews,  but  also 
from  the  Gentiles  ; '  as,  in  fact.  He  has  all  along  intimated  His  intention  of 
doing,  however  blind  you  may  have  been  to  His  purpose,  and  deaf  to  the 
teaching  of  your  own  prophets.     Thus  Hosea,  &c. 

St.  Paul  here  quotes  the  words  of  Hosea  (ii.  23)  as  expressing  what  he 
wishes  to  say,  though  the  Prophet  is  speaking  of  the  ten  tribes,  whereas 
the  Apostle  uses  the  word  as  applicable  to  the  Gentiles. 

28'7.  V.  27.  Esaias  also  crieth  concerning  Israel,  &c.  From  this  pas. 
sage  you  might  have  learned  that  not  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  of  Israel, 
merely  because  they  are  Israelites,  will  inherit  the  Kingdom.  '  A  remnant 
only  shall  be  saved.' 

288.    V.  29.  as  Esaias  has  said  before,  <kc.     Speaking  of  the  people  of 


CHAP.  X.  1—3.  203 

his  time,  the  prophet  said,  '  Except  the  Lord  of  Hosts  had  left  us  a  right- 
eous seed,  a  small  number,  the  true  and  faithful  few,  the  "  ten  righteous," 
the  "  seven  thousand  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,"  in  whom  the 
life  of  God  was  still  maintained,  we  should  have  been  like  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrha.'  May  it  not  be  so  now  ?  and  the  present  season  of  calm  be  but 
the  stillness  preceding  the  doom  of  wrath,  which  the  sins  of  the  Jewish  na- 
tion have  deserved  ? 

289.  v.  30.  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  '  Why,  we  must  allow  that  Gen- 
tiles, though  not  claiming  to  be  righteous  before  God,  though  not  aiming 
at  obtaining  such  a  righteousness,  have  yet  had  it  freely  bestowed  upon 
them  through  God's  grace  in  the  Gospel ;  whereas  Israel,  aiming  at  a  law 
or  rule  of  righteousness,  thinking  to  make  sure  of  righteousness,  by  a  kind 
of  law  or  rule,  a  methodical  process  of  working^  and  to  acquire,  as  it  were, 
a  patent  right  to  be  considered  as  righteous  before  God,  by  taking  up  their 
freedom  as  natural  sons  of  Abraham,  and  submitting  to  the  necessary 
Mosaic  ordinances,  have  not  "  got  before  "  the  Gentiles,  into  any  such  law.* 

290.  v.  32.  why,  because  they  pursued,  d;c.  They  might  have  found  a 
law  or  rule  of  righteousness,  indeed,  a  process  by  which  righteousness  may 
be  surely  obtained  ;  but  that  is  the  very  '  law  of  faith,'  under  which  (iii.  27) 
all  boasting  is  '  excluded,' 

CHAP.  X.    1—3. 

(1)  Brethren,  the  wish  of  my  heart,  and  my  sup- 
plication before  God,  on  behalf  of  Israel,  is  for  salva- 
tion. (2)  For  I  bear  witness  to  them  that  they  have 
a  zeal  for  God,  but  not  according  to  clear  knowledge. 
(3)  For,  being  ignorant  of  God's  righteousness,  and 
seeking  to  establish,  their  own  righteousness,  they  have 
not  submitted  themselves  to  the  righteousness  of  God. 

NOTES. 

291.  V.  1.  for  sahatio.n.  St.  Paul  distinguishes  between  justification 
and  salvation,  between  a  man's  being  justified  and  being  saved.  He  is  jus- 
tified freely  by  the  gift  of  righteousness,  which  God  bestows  upon  all  men 
generally,  and  reveals  for  their  comfort  and  joy  to  all  believers.  And  this 
righteousness  He  gives  us  in  His  Son,  and  ratified  the  assurance  of  it,  that 
we  were  made  righteous  and  reconciled,  when  He  raised  Him  from  the 
dead.     This  is  what  St.  Paul  calls  (Rom.  v.  2)  '  having  access  into  this  state 


204  EPISTLE   TO  THE   KOMAJNS. 

of  grace  in  which  we  stand.'  But  a  man,  being  thus  justified,  needs  now 
to  be  '  saved '  by  the  life  of  Jesus  from  the  '  wrath  to  come,'  from  that 
'  wrath '  (Rom.  v.  9)  which  his  daily  sins  deserve. 

Through  Him,  and  His  Presence  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  where,  by 
God's  own  gracious  appointment,  He  stands  our  Head  and  Lord,  and  Elder 
Brother,  ever  making  intercession  for  us,  we  trust  to  be  '  saved  from  that 
wrath,'  for  the  sins  which  we  confess  before  God,  and  turn  from  with  true 
repentance.  Even  if  our  Father  sees  that  we  still  need  to  be  chastened  for 
them,  yet  it  will  not  be  in  '  wrath '  and  severe  displeasure,  if  He  sees  a 
broken  heart  and  contrite  spirit.  The  Apostle  then  says  here  that  he 
earnestly  desires  and  prays  that  Israel  may  be  '  saved '  from  the  Divine  dis- 
pleasure. He  does  not  doubt  of  their  being  justified  by  God's  grace  as 
other  men ;  but  he  fears  that  heavy  judgments  are  coming  upon  them,  as 
upon  children,  from  a  Father's  Hand,  for  their  manifold  sins. 

292.  V.  2.  not  according  to  clear  knowledge^  that  is,  of  God's  gracious 
Will  and  Purpose,  in  calling  them  first  of  the  whole  human  race,  into 
special  nearness  of  relationship  to  Himself.  They  turned  this  grace  of  God 
into  a  ground  for  their  own  self-exaltation,  instead  of  regarding  it  as  a  de- 
claration of  His  Favour  to  them,  indeed,  at  first,  but  through  them  to  all 
mankind. 

293.  V.  3.  being  ignorant  of  God's  righteousness^  that  is,  of  the  right- 
eousness of  which  the  Apostle  has  been  speaking  all  along,  which  God 
bestows  freely  on  all,  who  will  humbly  trust  in  His  Love  and  will  be  con- 
tent to  be  righteous  in  His  Sight,  not  for  any  worthiness  of  their  own,  or 
any  peculiar  claim  they  may  fancy  themselves  to  have  upon  His  Favour, 
but  simply  because  He  is  graciously  pleased  to  call  them  righteous,  to  ac- 
count them  as  righteous  creatures,  for  the  sake  of  His  own  dear  Son,  whom 
He  has  given  to  be  their  Head  and  King. 

294.  V.  3.  seeking  to  establish  their  own  righteousness^  <kc.  They  have 
sought  a  righteousness  which  they  may  call  their  own,  and  boast  in,  which 
they  can  make  sure  for  themselves,  independently  of  God's  Justice  and 
Mercy.  Hence,  they  have  not  '  submitted  themselves,'  become  subject, 
obedient  (see  note  194)  unto  God's  Righteousness ;  they  have  not  been 
willing  humbly  to  receive  by  faith  God's  gracious  gift  to  all  mankind,  and 
welcome  its  law  of  love  as  the  law  of  their  lives. 

CHAP.  X.   4—10. 
(4)  For  Christ  is  tlie  end  of  the  Law  for  righteous- 
ness to  every  one  that  believeth.     (5)  For  Moses  writes 
of  the  righteousness  which  is  of  the  law,  that  'the  man, 


CHAP.  X.  4— -10.  205 

who  does  these  things,  shall  live  in  them.'  (6)  But  the 
righteousness,  which  is  of  faith,  says  thus,  ^  Say  not  in 
thy  heart,  Who  shall  ascend  up  into  Heaven  ? ' — that 
is,  to  bring  down  Christ,  (7)  'or.  Who  shall  descend 
into  the  deep,' — that  is,  to  bring  back  Christ  from  the 
dead.  (8)  But  Avhat  saith  it  ?  '  Near  thee  is  the 
word,  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy  heart,'  that  is,  the 
word  of  faith,  which  we  preach,  (9)  that,  if  thou  con- 
fess with  thy  mouth  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  believe  in  thy 
heart  that  God  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt 
be  saved.  (10)  For  with  the  heart  it  is  to  be  believed 
unto  righteousness  ;  but  with  the  mouth  it  is  to  be  con- 
fessed unto  salvation. 

NOTES. 

295.  V.  4.  for  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness,  <&c.  Yet, 
if  the  Jews  had  known  God's  Righteousness,  if  they  were  not  ignorant  of 
the  whole  spirit  of  their  own  Law,  they  would  see  that,  even  there,  Christ 
is  preached  throughout,  God's  righteousness  through  Christ  is  the  end,  to 
which  the  whole  Law  is  pointing  and  tending, — God's  righteousness  be- 
stowed, not  as  the  reward  of  works,  but  as  a  free  gift  of  His  Love,  which 
we  have  only  to  believe  in,  and  live, — God's  righteousness,  bestowed  not 
on  the  Jew  only,  but  on  '  every  one  that  believeth.' 

296.  v.  5.  for  Moses  writes,  dx.  Moses,  indeed,  does  write  of  the 
righteousness  which  comes  by  the  Law,  the  righteousness  which  comes 
through  the  works,  as  follows,  '  The  man  who  '  does  these  things,  shall  live 
in  them.'  And  if  a  man  could  '  do  these  things,'  and  do  them  faithfully 
and  perfectly,  could  work  all  righteousness,  no  doubt  he  would  '  live  in 
them.'  But  God  and  our  own  hearts  know  that  we  cannot  do  so,  that  we 
are  all  fallen  and  sinful  creatures  at  the  best,  that,  left  to  this  rule,  we 
must  die.  And,  therefore.  He  Himself  vouchsafes  to  give  us  life  through 
Him,  the  One  Man,  who  did  '  do  those  things,'  those  righteous  require- 
ments of  the  Law,  and  '  lived  in  them.' 

297.  V,  6.  but  the  righteousness  which  is  of  faith,  says  thus.  Hence 
the  same  Moses,  who  wrote  as  above,  describing  the  righteousness  which  is 
by  works,  wrote  also,  in  God's  Name,  other  words  such  as  these,  which  set 
forth  the  grace  of  God,  the  righteousness  which  is  by  faith.  '  Say  not,'  &c. 
(Deut.  XXX.  11—14.) 


206  EPISTLE    TO    THE   ROMANS. 

'  See  ! '  says  the  Apostle,  *  words  like  these  show  that  it  is  no  great  and 
impossible  thing  which  God  requires  of  His  creatures,  in  order  that  they 
may  enter  into  hfe,  as  if  they  had  to  work  out  their  own  righteousness  and 
salvation,  amidst  all  their  infirmity  and  ignorance,  their  sense  of  utter  help- 
lessness. Moses  speaks  not  of  any  great  work  to  be  done  by  them,  as  if 
they  had  to  go  up  to  Heaven,  to  bring  Christ  down,  or  to  go  down  to  the 
deep,  to  bring  Christ  up  from  the  dead.  Tfiey  have  not  to  bring  about 
these  mighty  wonders.  God's  Love  has  wrought  these  signs  of  His  Grace 
for  us.  He  speaks  not  of  any  thing  peculiar  to  the  Jew  above  other  men, 
or  to  one  man  above  another,  but  of  something  simple  and  common,  within 
the  reach  and  compass  of  all,  of  something  near  and  close  to  every  man,  of 
a  word  very  nigh,  in  the  heart  and  in  the  mouth,  that  he  should  do  it, — 
just  such  a  word  of  faith  as  that  which  we  now  preach,  a  word  of  mere 
faith  and  trust  in  God's  Mercy  and  Love.' 

298.  V.  9.  if  thou  confess^  d:c.  And  the  word  of  faith  is  this,  that  if 
thou,  0  man,  whoever  thou  art,  wilt  *  confess  with  thy  mouth,'  that  is,  wilt 
confess  outwardly  before  men,  with  thy  lips  and  in  thy  life,  that  Jesus  is 
Lord,  and  wilt  '  believe  inwardly  in  thy  heart  that  God  hath  raised  Him 
from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved.'  The  full  meaning  of  this  statement 
will  appear  more  plainly  in  the  next  note. 

299.  V.  10.  for  with  the  heart  it  is  to  be  believed  unto  righteousness ; 
but  with  the  mouth  it  is  to  be  confessed  unto  salvation.  If  we  believe  in  our 
hearts  that  God  raised  our  blessed  Lord  from  the  dead,  then  we  are  sure 
that  He  accepts  Him  as  our  Head  and  Elder  Brother,  and  us  in  Him  ;  we 
are  certified  by  that  fact  that  God  justifies  us,  makes  us  righteous,  calls  us 
near  unto  Himself,  allows  us  a  gracious  '  access '  to  His  Presence,  as  our  re- 
conciled, or,  rather,  reconciling  Father  and  Friend.  But,  being  thus  justi- 
fied of  God's  free  grace,  we  must  seek  to  walk  worthy  of  our  high  calling ; 
we  must  confess  Jesus  Christ  in  all  our  daily  thoughts,  and  words,  and  ac- 
tions, as  our  Lord,  ever  seeking  to  bring  forth,  as  His  servants,  the  fruita 
of  holiness  which  are  by  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  glory  and  praise  of  God. 
And,  though  our  lives  will  still  be  full  of  frailty  and  imperfection  at  the 
best,  though  still  we  must  have  daily  to  confess  and  mourn  before  God 
many  things  which  we  have  done  wrong  or  left  undone,  yet,  thus  seek- 
ing to  confess  our  Heavenly  Master  with  sincerity  and  singleness  of  heart, 
we  shall  be  'saved'  from  wrath  through  Him;  even,  if  needing  to  be 
chastened  by  our  Father's  rod,  we  shall  be  '  saved '  from  the  visitations  of 
His  angry  displeasure. 


CHAP.  X.  11—21.  207 


CHAP.  X.    11—21. 

(11)  For  the  Scripture  saitb,  '  Every  one,  that  be- 
lieveth  in  Him,  shall  not  be  confounded.'  (12)  For 
there  is  no  difference  both  of  Jew  and  Greek  ;  for  the 
same  is  Lord  of  all,  rich  unto  all  that  call  upon  Him. 
(13)  For  '  every  one,  who  shall  call  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  shall  be  saved.'  (14)  How  then  shall  they  call 
on  Him,  in  whom  they  believed  not  ?  and  how  shall 
they  believe  in  Him,  of  whom  they  heard  not  ?  And 
how  shall  they  hear  without  a  j)reacher  ?  (15)  And 
how  shall  they  preach  unless  they  be  sent  ?  as  it  is 
written,  ^  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  those,  who 
bring  the  message  of  peace,  who  bring  the  gospel  of 
good  things  I'  (16)  But  not  all  obeyed  the  gospel 
(who  heard  of  it)  ;  for  Esaias  says,  ^Lord,  who  believed 
our  report  ? '  (17)  So  then  faith  does  come  by  hearing, 
and  hearing  by  the  word  of  Grod.  (18)  But  I  say, 
^  Have  they  not  heard  ?  '  Yea,  verily,  '  into  all  the 
earth  hath  gone  out  their  voice,  and  unto  the  ends  of 
the  world  their  words.'  (19)  But  I  say,  '  Did  not  Israel 
know  ? '  First  Moses  says,  ^  I  will  excite  you  with  what 
is  no  nation,  with  a  simple  nation  will  I  anger  you.' 
(20)  But  Esaias  speaks  boldly  out,  and  says,  ''  I  was 
found  by  those  not  seeking  me,  I  became  manifest  to 
those  not  enquiring  after  me.'  (21)  But  to  Israel  he 
says,  ^  All  the  day  I  stretched  out  my  hands  towards  a 
people  disobedient  and  contradictory.' 

NOTES. 

300.   V.  11.  for  the  Scripture  saitk,  Every  one,  d'c.     *  I  say,  these  words, 
though  addressed,  in  the  first  instance,  to  Jews,  have  nothing  in  them 


208  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

which  confines  their  meaning  to  Jews.  They  are  true  of  thee,  0  man, 
whosoever  thou  art.  Thy  God  requires  of  thee  no  impossible  thing,  but 
simply  to  believe  in  His  Fatherly  Love,  and  yield  thyself  up  to  the  gracious 
leading  of  His  Holy  Spirit.  The  word  is  very  near  thee,  in  thy  mouth  and 
in  thy  heart.  For  what  says  the  Scripture,  '  Every  one  that  believeth  in 
Him  shall  not  be  confounded... For  there  is  no  difference... But  the  same 
Lord  is  over  all,  rich  unto  all  that  call  upon  Him.' 

301.  V.  14.  How  then  shall  they  call  on  Him^  (kc.  But  it  maybe  said, 
this  language  of  the  prophet  assumes  that  men  shall  first  have  heard  of 
Him,  in  whom  they  are  to  trust,  on  whom  they  are  to  call.  And  how  shall 
they  hear  without  a  preacher  ?  and  how  shall  there  be  preachers,  unless 
God  sends  them?  &c.,  as  Isaiah  wrote.  And  it  may  be  argued,  perhaps, 
that  because  the  Gentiles  have  had  no  preachers  sent  to  them,  as  the  Jews 
have  had,  therefore  they  cannot  be  included  in  such  promises ;  for  they 
cannot  have  heard  of  God,  they  cannot  have  believed  in  Him,  they  cannot 
have  called  upon  His  Name.  Such  words  as  these,  then,  it  may  be  said, 
belong  only  to  us,  Jews,  whom  God  has  specially  distinguished  from  all 
other  of  the  sons  of  men,  by  sending  His  prophets  and  vouchsafing  His 
favour  to  them. 

302.  V.  16.  but  not  all  obeyed  the  gospel^  that  is,  even  in  that  case,  to 
which  these  words  of  the  Prophet  refer,  all  did  not  obey  the  Gospel,  though 
they  heard  it.  In  other  words,  the  Apostle,  in  reply  to  the  supposed  objec- 
tion, says,  '  It  does  not  follow,  because  the  heathen  do  not  generally  do  the 
Will  of  God,  that  they  have  never  heard  anything  about  it.  You  argue  this 
from  what  you  see  in  their  lives.  You  take  for  granted  that  they  have  never 
heard  any  words  of  life  from  the  Mouth  of  God,  because  you  see,  what 
every  one  sees,  that  their  lives  generally  are  impure  and  unholy.  But  has 
all  Israel  obeyed  the  Gospel,  the  Message  of  Life  and  Love,  which  God  sent 
them  of  old  by  His  Messengers  ?  You  know  well  they  have  not.  And,  if 
you  were  even  ready  to  deny  this,  Isaiah  himself  would  tell  us,  for  he  cries, 
"  Who  hath  believed  our  report  ?  "  You  might  as  well,  then,  argue  that 
the  people  of  Israel  have  never  had  Light  from  God's  Holy  Place  vouch- 
safed to  them,  because  His  Holy  Name  is  so  often  "blasphemed  through 
them  among  the  heathen,"  as  infer  that  the  heathen  have  never  "  heard,"  be- 
cause the  great  mass  of  them  seem  not  to  have  "  believed  "  and  "  obeyed" 
the  word  of  God.' 

303.  V.  lY.  So  then  faith  does  come  by  hearing^  and  hearing  by  the 
word  of  God.  '  So,  then,  I  am  quite  ready  to  say  with  you,  men  cannot 
believe  in  God,  except  by  hearing,  in  some  way  or  other,  and  they  cannot 
hear,  except  God  speaks  to  them.' 

304.  V.  18.  But  I  say,  Have  they  not  heard,  dec.     "  But,  I  say,  has  He 


CHAP.  X.  11—21.  -  209 

not  spoken  to  them,  and  have  they  not  heard,  and  have  not  some  among 
them  behoved  and  obeyed,  though  the  great  body  of  them  may,  perhaps, 
be  as  unbeUeving  and  disobedient  as  the  great  body  of  the  Jewish  people, 
both  of  old  and  now  ?  Have  they,  indeed,  been  left  alone  in  the  world  by 
their  '  Faithful  Creator,'  uncared  for,  and  utterly  untaught,  and  unenlight- 
ened ?  Have  they  not  had  '  preachers '  all  along,  to  tell  them  of  God's  Ma- 
jesty and  Goodness,  to  declare  to  them  in  some  measure  the  'invisible 
things '  of  their  Father  in  Heaven  ?  Has  not  that,  '  which  is  knowable  of 
God,'  been  'manifested  among  them,  for  God  has  showed  it  unto  them,  even 
His  Eternal  Power  and  Godhead '  ?  Do  not  the  very  Heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God  ?  Has  not  '  their  voice,'  the  voice  of  God's  great  company 
of  preachers,  '  gone  out  into  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  unto  the  end  of 
the  world '  ?  Has  God  left  any  of  His  rational  creatures  without  some  in- 
telligible signs  of  His  Presence,  some  intimations  of  His  righteous  Will, — 
on  the  one  hand  revealing  His  wrath  against  all  ungodliness  and  unright- 
eousness of  men,  who  keep  back  the  truth  which  they  know  by  their  ini- 
quity,— on  the  other  hand,  declaring  His  Fatherly  Love  towards  them, 
*  giving  them  rain  from  heaven  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  their  hearts  with 
food  and  gladness,'  showing  that  '  He  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  them,  in 
whom  they  live  and  move  and  have  their  being ' "  ? 

And  are  we  so  sure  that  none  among  the  heathen  have  called  upon  the 
Lord  in  sincerity  and  truth,  according  to  the  light  vouchsafed  to  them, 
though  they  did  not  know  Him  as  Jehovah,  the  Living  God,  or  as  the  Fa- 
ther of  our  Lord  ?  Has  there  been  no  Job,  or  Melchizedek,  or  Jethro,  or 
Cornelius, — no  Socrates,  who  could  die  a  glorious  martyr  to  the  truth, — no 
Cicero,  who  could  stretch  out  his  neck  to  the  murderer's  stroke,  after  a  life 
spent  faithfully  and  zealously,  though  amidst  much  infirmity  of  body  and 
mind,  in  the  service  of  his  country, — ^no  Nebuchadnezzar,  who,  after  chastise- 
ment, could  '  bless  the  Most  High,  and  praise  and  honour  Him  that  liveth 
for  ever,'  (Dan.  iv.  34), — no  King  of  Nineveh,  who  with  his  people  could 
cry  mightily  unto  God  in  the  time  of  his  distress,  and  '  God  saw  their 
woi'ks,  that  they  turned  from  their  evil  way '  ?  Yes,  most  assuredly.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  world  it  always  has  been,  and  is,  and  ever  will  be, 
true,  that  '  in  every  nation,  he,  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteous- 
ness,' according  to  the  light  vouchsafed  to  him,  though  he  may  not  be  cir- 
cumcised as  a  Jew,  nor  baptized  as  a  Christian,  '  is  accepted  of  Him,'  who 
is  the  Faithful  Creator,  the  Merciful  God,  and  the  loving  Friend  and  Father 
of  all. 

305.  V.  19.  hut  I  say^  Did  not  Israel  know?  "  And  is  all  this,  I  repeat 
again,  news  to  the  Jews  ?  Have  they  had  no  intimation  given  ihem,  that 
the  Gentiles  were  meant  to  share  in  the  Mercies  of  their  God,  as  well  aa 


210  EPISTLE   TO   THE   EOMANS. 

themselves?  Did  not  Israel  know  this,  or  might  they  not  have  known  it, 
all  along?  What  says  Moses  himself?  And  what  says  Isaiah,  still  more 
plainly  and  boldly  ?  Do  they  not  tell  you  of  the  '  no-nation,'  the  '  simple 
nation,'  that  is,  the  Gentiles,  by  whom  God  will  be  found,  though  they 
'  seek  Him  not,'  and  '  enquire  not  after  Him,'  and  upon  whom  He  will 
pour  out  His  blessing,  and  so  provoke  and  anger  you.  His  disobedient 
people  ?  " 

CHAP.  XI.   1—6. 

(1)  I  say  then,  ^  Did  God  cast  off  His  people  ? ' 
Nay,  not  so  :  for  I  too  am  an  Israelite,  of  the  seed  of 
Abraham,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin.  (2)  Grod  cast  not 
off  His  people,  whom  He  foreknew.  Know  ye  not  what 
the  Scripture  saith  in  the  story  of  Elias,  how  he  pleads 
with  God  against  Israel,  saying,  (3)  *  Lord,  Thy  prophets 
they  killed,  and  Thine  altars  they  dug  down ;  and  I  was 
left  behind  alone,  and  they  seek  my  life.'  (4)  But  what 
says  the  Divine  utterance  to  him  ?  '  I  left  to  myself 
seven  thousand  men,  such  as  bowed  not  the  knee  to 
Baal.'  (5)  So  then  in  the  present  time  also  there  is  a 
remnant  according  to  election  of  grace.  (6)  But  if  by 
grace,  it  is  no  longer  of  works  ;  since  then  grace  becomes 
no  longer  grace.  But  if  of  works,  no  longer  is  it  grace  ; 
since  then  work  no  longer  is  work. 

NOTES. 

306.  V.  1.  did  God  cast  off  His  people,  that  is,  when  He  saw  such  fault 
in  them,  when  he  spoke  so  severely  of  them,  and  even  dealt  so  severely 
with  them?  God  forbid!  How  could  I  bear  to  say  or  imagine  such  a 
thing  of  my  own  people,  my  own  kith  and  kin  ?  No  !  He  may  chastise 
severely,  and,  if  need  be,  for  a  time  cut  off  from  the  enjoyment  of  His 
favour,  those  whom  He  once  foreknew  for  better  things.  But  he  will  not 
cast  them  off. 

SOY.  V.  2.  God  cast  not  off  His  people,  whom  He  foreknew,  that  is, 
whom  He  fixed  upon  beforehand,  for  a  gracious  purpose  (see  note  2*70). 
And  in  fact,  there  was  always  left  a  righteous  seed,  a  seed  of  life  among 


CHAP.  XI.  1 — 6.  211 

them.  And  this  of  itself  was  a  proof  that  God  had  not  cast  them  off,  nor 
utterly  withdrawn  His  loving-kindness  from  them. 

308.  V.  5.  so  then  in  the  present  time  also  there  is  a  remnant  according 
to  election  of  grace.  As  one  might  have  thought  in  the  days  of  old,  as 
Elias  did  think,  that  the  whole  nation  was  apostate,  and  yet  there  were 
seven  thousand  true  and  faithful  souls  to  be  found  in  Israel,  unknown  to 
the  prophet,  but  marked  of  Him  who  '  searcheth  the  hearts,  and  trieth  the 
reins  of  the  children  of  men,  so  now,  though  the  great  mass  of  the  Jewish 
people  is  self-willed,  and  obstinately  fixed  in  unbelief,  yet,  doubtless,  there 
are  many  among  them,  whether  the  Gospel  Message  has  reached  them 
as  yet  or  not,  whom  the  Eye  of  their  Lord  approves  in  their  daily  lives 
of  piety  and  faithfulness,  and  on  whom  the  blessing  of  their  God 
descends. 

And  the  words  may  be  extended  to  have  a  wider  meaning  than  this. 
'  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  His,'  in  every  age,  in  every  nation  under 
heaven.  He  knoweth  those,  who,  according  to  the  Light  vouchsafed  to 
them,  '  do  justice,  and  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  their  God.'  He 
knows  such  as  these  ;  and  He  '  elects,'  He  chooses  them,  for  His  own  dear 
children,  from  among  the  mass  of  human-kind.  To  them  He  will  grant 
His  peace,  the  Peace  which  passes  understanding,  and  reveal  more  fully 
the  secrets  of  His  Love. 

We  know  not  how  many  there  are  of  these  in  any  age.  There  were  in 
that  day,  and,  probably,  there  will  be  at  all  times,  compared  with  the  great 
mass  of  any  nation  or  mankind  at  large,  but  a  few  only  of  those,  who  en- 
ter by  the  '  strait  gate,'  and  pass  on  by  the  '  narrow  way '  that  leadeth  unto 
life, — a  '  remnant,  according  to  election  of  grace.'  These  are  approved 
and  elected  of  God's  free  grace,  not  for  any  worthiness  of  their  own,  which 
has  deserved  it, — not  for  any  works  which  they  have  wrought  with  the 
strength  He  gave  them.  He  knows,  and  they  know  also,  that  they  have 
but  feebly  used  that  strength  and  grace  He  gave  them, — that  their  best 
works  fall  utterly  short  of  that  perfection,  which  the  Law  of  Holiness  re- 
quires,— that,  in  themselves,  they  are  '  unworthy  and  unclean,  unfit  to 
stand  before  Him,  unable  to  bear  the  scrutiny  of  His  Pure  Eyes.  But,  as 
He  blessed  Abraham,  and  called  him  righteous,  though  in  himself  un- 
righteous, '  forgiving  his  unrighteousness  and  covering  his  sin,'  not  as  one 
obliged  to  do  it,  not  as  if  Abraham  had  a  right  to  clai7n  it  at  His  hands,  but 
as  an  act  of  free  grace,  so  are  all  those,  whom  God  sees  in  any  nation,  to 
be  '  working  good '  and  '  patiently  continuing  in  well-doing,'  approved  and 
'  elected '  by  Him,  to  enjoy  the  richer  blessings  of  His  favour,  not  for  their 
righteousness'  sake,  but  through  His  free  Grace  and  infinite  Mercy.  There 
is  not  a  word  in  all  this  to  countenance  the  Calvinistic  notion,  of  the  Al- 


212  EPISTLE   TO    THE   UOMANS. 

mighty  '  elected,'  by  an  arbitrary  fiat  of  His  Will,  a  few  only,  a  '  remnant,' 
of  the  human  race  for  life,  and  consigning  the  rest  to  endless  miery. 

CHAP.  XL   7—27. 

(7)  What  then  ?     What  Israel  seeks  after,  that  it 
attained  not,  but  the  election  attained  it ;  whereas  the 
rest  were  hardened,  (8)  as  it  is  written,  *  God  gave  them 
a  spirit  of  slumber,  eyes  that  they  should  not  see,  and 
ears  that  they  should  not  hear,  unto  this  very  day/ 
(9)  And  David  says,  ^  Let  their  table  become  a  stum- 
bling-block and  a  recompense  to  them.     (10)  Let  their 
eyes  be  darkened,  that  they  should  not  see,  and  ever 
bow  thou  down  their  back.'    (11)  I  say  then,  '  Did  they 
stumble,  so  as  to  fall  ? '     Nay,  not  so  :   but  through 
their  lapse  there  is  salvation  to  the  Grentiles,  so  as  to 
excite  them.      (12)  But,  if  their  lapse  is  the  world's 
wealth,  and  their  impoverishment  the  Gentiles'  wealth, 
how  much  more  their  enrichment  !     (13)  For  I  speak 
to  you,  Gentiles  ;  inasmuch  as  I  am  an  apostle  of  Gen- 
tiles, I  glorify  my  ministry,  (14)  if  I  may  somehow 
excite  my  flesh,  and  save  some  of  them.     (15)  For  if 
the  casting  away  of  them  be  the  reconciliation  of  the 
world,  what  then  the  reception,  but  life  from  the  dead  ? 
(16)  But,  if  the  first  fruits  be  holy,  so  is  the  lump ;  and 
if  the  root  be  holy,  so  are  the  branches.     (17)  But,  if 
some  of  the  branches  were  broken  out,  whereas  thou, 
wild-olive  as  thou  art,  wert  graffed  in  among  them,  and 
became  partaker  of  the  root  and  fatness  of  the  olive, 

(18)  boast  not    against   the  branches  ;    but,  if  thou 
boastest,  thou  bearest  not  the  root,  but  the  root  thee. 

(19)  Thou  wilt  say  then,  ^The  branches  were  broken 
out,  so  that  I  may  be  graffed  in.'     (20)  Well !  through 


CHAP.  XI,  7— -2Y.     ,  213 

unbelief  they  were  broken  out,  whereas  thou  by  faith 
standest.  Be  not  high-minded,  but  fear.  (21)  For, 
if  God  spared  not  the  natural  branches,  beware  lest  He 
spare  not  thee  either.  (22)  Behold,  then,  the  goodness 
and  severity  of  God, — upon  them  which  fell,  severity, 
but  upon  thee  goodness,  if  thou  continue  in  the  good- 
ness ;  since  (otherwise)  thou  also  shalt  be  cut  off. 
(23)  And  they  too,  if  they  do  not  continue  in  unbe- 
lief, shall  be  graffed  in  ;  for  God  is  able  to  graff  them 
in  again.  (24)  For,  if  thou  wert  cut  out  of  the  natu- 
rally wild  olive,  and  unnaturally  wert  graffed  into  the 
good  olive,  how  much  rather  shall  these,  the  natural 
hrancheSj  be  graffed  into  their  own  olive  ?  (25)  For 
I  wish  you  not  to  be  ignorant,  brethren,  of  this  mystery, 
so  that  ye  may  not  be  wise  in  your  own  conceits,  that 
hardness  in  a  measure  is  come  to  Israel,  until  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Gentiles  shall  have  come  in.  (26)  And  so 
all  Israel  shall  be  saved,  as  it  is  written,  ^  There  shall 
come  from  Sion  the  Deliverer,  and  shall  turn  away  im- 
pieties from  Jacob.  (27)  And  this  is  my  covenant  with 
them,  when  I  shall  have  taken  away  their  sins.' 

NOTES. 

809.  V.  V.  what  Israel  seeks  after,  that  it  attained  not,  but  the  election 
attained  it.  That  righteousness,  which  Israel  is  now  seeking  after,  in  its 
own  way,  upon  its  own  footing,  by  way  of  claim,  in  right  of  works,  the 
nation  at  large,  the  great  body  of  the  race,  did  not  attain.  But  the  faith- 
ful few,  the  approved  and  elected  ones,  did  attain  it ;  they  sought  it  not  by 
works,  but  thankfully  embraced  it,  as  the  free  gift  of  God's  grace,  saying  in 
their  hearts,  with  the  Psalmist,  '  Blessed  is  the  man,  whose  unrighteousness 
is  forgiven,  and  whose  sin  is  covered.' 

310.  V.  Y.  the  rest  were  hardened,  the  natural  consequence  of  their 
obstinacy,  by  the  Eternal  Laws,  which  God  maintains  in  His  Kingdom, 
which  are  the  necessary  Laws  of  the  Moral  World ;  so  that  we  may  say, 


214  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

either  they  hardened  themselves  by  their  wickedness,  or  they  -were  hardened 
by  the  judgment  of  God,  they  became  hardened  under  the  operation  of 
God's  Eternal  Laws  (see  note  40). 

811.  V.  9.  and  David  says,  dec.  It  has  come  upon  them,  as  upon  those 
of  whom  David  writes,  that  their  '  table,' — the  very  goodness  with  which 
their  cup  overflows,  the  very  blessings  and  privileges  which  they  have  en- 
joyed,— has  become  '  a  snare '  to  them.  They  have  become  proud  and 
high-minded,  and  boasting  of  their  security  :  and  their  fall  will  be,  in  con- 
quence,  more  marked  and  terrible. 

312.  V.  11.  did  they  stumble.  The  Apostle  refers  to  the  time,  when  the 
nation  finally  rejected  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  '  things  of  its  peace '  were, 
therefore,  '  hid  from  its  eyes.' 

313.  V.  11.  did  they  stumble,  so  as  to  fall  ?  that  is,  so  as  to  fall  only, 
never  to  rise  again, — to  lie  utterly  prostrate,  without  any  prospect  or  hope 
of  recovery  ?  Not  so.  They  have  stumbled,  indeed,  and  fallen,  and  lost 
the  place,  which  they  once  enjoyed  in  God's  favour.  But  this  was  needful, 
in  God's  great  mercy,  to  chasten  them,  and  rouse  them,  it  may  be,  from 
their  state  of  torpor.  And  God  will  use  this  very  season  of  their  lapse  and 
impoverishment,  as  a  time  of  blessing  for  the  Gentiles;  and  He  would 
have  them  stirred  by  this  to  a  godly  rivalry ;  that  so  they  may  rise  again 
from  their  fall,  and  the  whole  Church  be  enriched  by  their  enrichment, 

314.  v.  13.  /  spealc  to  you,  Gentiles, — that  is,  to  you,  believers  from 
among  the  Jewish  proselytes  at  Rome.  (See  Introduction.)  The  Jew,  my 
own  countryman  and  kinsman  after  the  flesh,  may  not  appropriate  what  I 
say :  but  you,  I  trust,  at  all  events,  will  do  so.  Nay,  I  glorify  and  make  the 
most  of  this  ministry  to  the  Gentiles,  which  is  committed  to  my  trust.  I  put 
it  forward  prominently,  and  draw  attention  to  it,  if  I  may  thus  stir  up  to 
rivalry  those  of  my  own  flesh  and  blood  (the  Jews),  and  save  some  of 
them. 

315.  v.  15.  reconciliation.  This  is  the  very  same  word  which  is  used 
in  verse  11,  'by  whom  we  have  now  received  the  at-one-ment.''  It  will  be 
at  once  evident  how  far  from  the  Apostle's  meaning  is  the  interpretation 
usually  given  to  these  last  words,  which  assumes  that  St.  Paul  is  there 
speaking  of  Christ's  *  atoning  for '  our  sins,  by  bearing  some  dreadful 
weight  of  vengeance  in  our  stead,  if  we  translate  the  words  now  before  us 
thus,  '  If  the  casting  away  of  them  be  the  atonement  of  the  world.' 

316.  V.  15.  life  from  the  dead,  that  is,  like  the  joy  of  receiving  back  a 
dear  friend  from  the  embrace  of  death. 

317.  V.  16.  if  the  firstfruits  be  holy,  <hc.  If  the  fathers,  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  whom  God  called,  and  set  apart  for  Himself,  be  His,  so> 
too,  is  the  mass,  the  whole  race,  who  were  called  and  set  apart  in  them ; 


CHAP.  XI.  7 — 27.  215 

and  if  the  root,  (the  fathers,  as  before,)  be  holy,  so  too  are  the  branches, 
that  is,  the  whole  tree.  This  does  not  prevent,  however,  some  of  the 
branches  being  cut  out,  if  they  bear  no  fruit,  and  other  branches  from  the 
wild  olive  being  graffed  in,  and  made  to  share  the  richness  of  the  true 
olive,  the  blessiugs  enjoyed  by  God's  chosen  inner  family  of  sons  and 
daughters. 

318.  V.  19.  so  that,  not  '  in  order  that,'  but  merely  '  to  the  effect  that.' 
The  Apostle's  words  may  be  paraphrased  thus :  '  Well ! '  you  may  say, 
'  however  this  may  be,  about  the  root  bearing  us,  instead  of  our  bearing  the 
root,  yet,  at  all  events,  the  root  does  bear  us  now  :  they  were  broken  out, 
for  whatever  cause,  and  the  result  is,  that  we  are  were  graffed  in.'  '  True,' 
says  the  Apostle,  '  and  now  you  must  lay  to  heart  the  same  lesson,  as  they 
have  had  to  learn,  not  to  be  high-minded,  trusting  in  yourselves,  as  if  you 
had  any  merit  of  your  own,  which  deserved  your  new  position,  or  could 
maiatain  you  in  it  for  a  moment ;  but  fear,  remembering  ever  that  "  the 
Lord's  delight  is  in  them  that  fear  Him,  and  put  their  whole  trust  in  His 
mercy." ' 

319.  V.  22.  if  thou  continue  in  the  goodness,  if  thou  continue  patiently 
in  well-doing,  and  so  abide  in  the  goodness  of  God,  '  keeping  yourselves  in 
His  Love.' 

320.  V.  22.  since  thou  also  shalt  be  cut  off.  This  is  the  thought  you 
should  have,  while  considering  what  has  happened  in  their  case, — not  '  they 
were  cut  out,  in  order  that  I  may  be  graffed  in,'  but — '  they  were  cut  out, 
and  in  their  room  I  was  graffed  in  ;  but  I  may  be  cut  out  also,  if  I  prove 
unfaithful  as  they.' 

321.  V.  23.  and  they  too,  if  they  do  not  continue  in  unbelief  shall  be 
graffed  in.  The  analogy  of  the  tree,  which  the  Apostle  has  used,  must  not 
be  carried  too  far,  beyond  the  use  for  which  he  himself  employs  it.  In 
ordinary  pruning,  branches  '  cut  out '  are  left  to  perish,  are  regarded  as 
useless,  as  so  much  fuel  for  the  fire.  But  here  St.  Paul  speaks  of  those 
very  same  branches  being  '  graffed  in  again,'  if  they  abide  not  in  unbelief ; 
for  '  God  is  able  to  graflf  them  in  again,'  however  dry  and  withered  they 
may  have  become,  or,  even,  if  they  have  been,  perchance,  already  burnt  in 
the  fire.  In  other  words,  God  will  still  regard  them  as  His  children,  even 
in  His  severest  chastisements.  In  cutting  them  off.  He  will  not  cast  them 
away.  They  are  still  beloved,  for  the  fathers'  sakes :  '  for  the  gifts  and 
calling  of  God  are  without  repentance.' 

322.  V.  25.  mystery.  This  word  is  never  used  in  the  New  Testament 
in  the  ordinary  sense  of  something  dark,  obscure,  hidden  up,  but  always  of 
something  that  has  been  hidden,  and  is  still,  perhaps,  hidden  from  the 
many,  but  is  made  known  and  revealed  to  the  initiated. 


216f  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

323.  V.  26.  and  so  all  Israel  shall  he  saved.  This  passage  does  not 
seem  to  be  meant  as  an  authoritative  prophecy,  but  rather  as  a  statement 
of  what  the  Apostle's  own  reflecting  mind  saw,  as  it  were,  disclosed  to  him, 
as  the  explanation  of  God's  past  and  present  dealings,  which  he  believed 
the  Divine  Spirit  had  enabled  him  to  see,  and  which  he  wished  to  commu- 
nicate to  others.  It  may  be  that  here,  also,  as,  certainly,  in  his  expecta- 
tion of  the  speedy  manifestation  of  the  Second  Advent,  St.  Paul  imagines 
that  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  would  be  gathered  into  the  Church,  and  the 
Gospel  be  preached  among  all  nations,  in  his  own  day^  and  so  the  Deliverer 
would  come,  and  iniquity  be  turned  away  from  Jacob,  by  the  Jews,  as  a 
nation,  embracing  the  Gospel,  and  all  Israel,  the  whole  believing  Family, 
whether  originally  Jews  or  Heathens,  '  be  saved '  from  the  wrath  revealed 
against  all  wilful  sin  and  disobedience. 

324.  v.  27.  this  is  my  covenant  with  them.  St.  Paul  does  not  go  on 
to  quote  the  words  which  declare  what  the  gracious  covenant  is.  '  This  is 
my  covenant  with  them,  saith  the  Lord  ;  My  spirit  that  is  upon  thee,  and 
my  words  which  I  have  put  in  thy  mouth,  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy 
mouth,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy 
seed's  seed,  saith  the  Lord,  from  henceforth  and  for  ever.'    (Isaiah  lix.  21.) 

CHAP.  XI.   28—32. 

(28)  As  regards  the  Gosi3el,  they  are  enemies  with 
reference  to  you  ;  but,  as  regards  the  election,  they  are 
beloved  with  reference  to  the  fathers.  (29)  For  the 
free  gifts  and  the  calling  of  God  are  not  repented  of. 

(30)  For,  just  as  you  once  disobeyed  God,  but  now 
w^ere  dealt  with  mercifully,  through  their  disobedience  ; 

(31)  so  these  also  now  disobeyed  through  your  mercy, 
so  that  they  too  may  be  dealt  with  mercifully.  (32)  For 
God  shut  them  all  up  together  into  disobedience,  so  that 
He  may  deal  mercifully  with  them  all. 

NOTES. 

325.  V.  28.  as  regards  the  Gospel^  they  are  enemies  with  reference  to 
you.  As  concerning  the  Gospel,  they  are  enemies,  are  treated  as  enemies, 
with  a  view  to  you, — not  '  through  you,'  '  on  your  account,'  (which  the 
Greek  will  not  allow,)  as  if  this  was  the  reason  for  their  being  so  treated, 


CHAP.  XI.  28—32.  217 

— but  with  a  view  to  you,  that  good  may  result  to  you  through  their  being 
so  treated,  as  the  Wisdom  and  Love  of  God  saw  good  to  treat  them. 

326.  V.  28.  as  regards  the  election,  they  are  beloved  with  reference  to 
the  fathers.  But,  though  treated  as  enemies,  and  cut  off  for  a  season,  from 
the  enjoyment  of  His  nearer  Presence,  they  are  not  regarded  by  Him  as 
enemies  even  now.  Nay,  as  regards  the  election, — as  regards  God's  choos- 
ing them  of  His  own  free  grace  to  be  the  objects  of  His  Mercy  and  Favour, 
— they  are  beloved  as  children  still,  with  reference  to  the  fathers, — not 
'  through '  the  fathers,  on  their  account,  as  if  that  were  the  sole  reason 
for  God's  mercy  to  them,  but  with  a  view  to  them,  that  blessing  may  result 
to  the  fathers  also,  from  the  mercies  shown  to  the  children. 

How  wonderfully  this  statement  of  the  Apostle  meets  some  of  the 
deepest  wants  of  the  human  spirit !  What  soothing  comfort  it  brings  to 
loving  parents  and  dear  friends,  mourning  under  strokes  of  sad  bereave- 
ment, when  they  cannot  feel  assured,  as  they  would  wish  to  be,  of  the  state 
of  mind  of  those  whom  they  have  lost,  by  reminding  them  that,  besides  the 
general  Fatherly  Love  of  God,  in  which  they  may  trust  for  the  departed, 
and  which  embraces  all  mankind,  there  are  sweet  words  of  special  conso- 
lation for  them,  believing,  friends.  These  Jews,  though  so  wicked  in  them- 
selves, unbelieving  and  disobedient,  and  so  chastened  and  for  a  time  cut  off, 
as  enemies,  are  yet  beloved  for  their  fathers'  sake,  with  reference  to  them, 
that  they,  the  fathers,  may  not  be  grieved  and  dishonoured.  And  shall 
not  the  child  of  Christian  parents,  though  he  may  need  many  stripes,  be 
beloved  for  the  parents'  sake  ?  Shall  not  the  thousand  tender  ties,  which 
bind  us  to  one  another  in  fiimily,  and  social,  ay,  and  in  human  relations,  be 
held  by  us  as  pledges  of  hope,  which  God  Himself  our  Father  has  given  us, 
to  keep  us  ever  longing,  praying,  and  labouring,  in  faith  and  trust  for  one 
another  ?  Can  we  suppose  that  the  mere  word  of  promise,  made  outwardly 
to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  shall  make  all  the  difference  between  the 
case  of  a  Jewish  child,  and  the  child  of  any  other  parents,  Christian  or 
Heathen?  Shall  we  not  rather  joyfully  remember  that  the  promises,  made 
to  Abraham,  spoke  of  One  greater  than  Abraham,  who  should  spring  from 
his  loins,  '  in  whom  all  families  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed '  ?  Surely, 
He,  who  Himself  sanctified  all  human  relationships,  by  taking  part  with  us, 
in  our  nature,  as  Man,  has  taught  us  how  to  read  clearly  their  blessed 
meaning,  and  to  know  that,  when  a  woman  can  forget  her  sucking  child, 
or  a  true,  loving  father,  though  broken-hearted,  cast  off  from  his  affections 
his  prodigal  son,  then  the  Lord  our  God,  from  Whom  those  tender  human 
feelings  came,  as  faint  shadowings  forth  to  us  of  His  Love,  will  cast  off 
utterly  any  one  of  His  creatures,  into  whom  He  has  breathed  one  breath 
of  His  Spirit,  and  by  that  gracious  act  has  called  him  His  child. 
10 


218  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

327.  V.  29.  the  free  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  not  repented  of. 
God,  having  once  granted  gifts  of  free  grace,  having  once  in  His  mercy 
called  never  '  changes  His  mind,'  so  as  to  recal  His  Love  from  the  object, 
on  which  He  has  been  pleased  to  bestow  it.  This  is,  undoubtedly,  what 
the  Apostle  means  to  say.  And,  if  the  words  seem,  at  first  sight,  to  con- 
tradict other  words  in  the  Bible,  and  other  facts  in  the  Scripture  history, 
we  must  seek  for  the  truth  which  underlies  the  whole,  and  connects  all 
to"-ether,  as  diflferent  branches  of  the  same  root.  The  root  is  the  Fatherly 
Love  of  God  to  His  creatures,  which  leads  Him  at  one  time  to  bless  His 
children  at  another  to  chasten  them,  at  one  moment  to  reveal  to  them  the 
si'^ns  of  His  Favour,  at  another  to  cut  them  off  for  a  time  in  displeasure,  to 
banish  them,  it  may  be,  into  the  outer  darkness,  and  yet  suffers  Him  never 
to  forget  them,  or  cast  them  off  altogether. 

Will  it  be  said  that  the  Apostle  is  referring  only  to  the  Jews,  and  to 
the  '  gifts  and  calling '  they  had  received  ?  But  the  argument  equally 
holds  good  of  all.  And,  unless  we  deny  that  other  men  have  received  any 
*  gifts  of  grace,'  have  been  '  called,'  in  any  sense,  to  know  the  truth,  though 
they  may  have  kept  it  back  in  unrighteousness,  we  must  admit  that  this 
general  assertion  of  the  Apostle  holds  good  of  them  also.  And,  in  fact, 
the  very  same  reasoning,  which  the  Apostle  uses,  to  satisfy  his  own  mind 
with  respect  to  Israel,  arguing  that  it  was  certainly  not  cast  off  altogether 
in  the  days  of  Elias,  because  there  was  still  left  a  righteous  seed  in  it,  may 
be  used  in  the  case  of  any  man,  where  there  is  still  a  seed  of  life  remain- 
ing,— a  precious  remnant  left,  which  still  clings  to  righteousness, — seven 
thousand,  seven  hundred,  seventy,  or  seven,  or  even  one  single  thought  or 
movement  of  the  heart,  which  has  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  God  has 
not  cast  away  altogether  any  such  child,  whom  He  foreknew  for  a  great  and 
blessed  hope.  He  may  need  severe  correction  and  chastisement, — to  be 
cut  off  for  a  while  from  all  enjoyment  of  God's  Presence, — to  be  banished 
from  the  cheerful  Light  of  day,— to  be  excluded  from  the  Feast,  and  cast 
into  the  outer  Darkness, — to  be  burnt  up  with  the  Fiery  sense  of  God's 
Displeasure,  and  devoured  with  the  undying  "Worm  of  a  guilty  conscience, 
—until  the  work  shall  be  done  effectually,  and  the  evil,  long  indulged, 
purged  out,  and  the  corruption  of  the  flesh,  which  clings  to  his  spiritual 
nature,  be  wholly  consumed.  But  while  there  is  yet  one  spark  of  spiritual 
life,  manifesting  itself  in  the  heart  and  actions  of  that  child,  though  it  be 
the  poor  harlot  in  the  street,  or  the  felon  in  his  cell,  there  is  a  sign  that  the 
Father  of  Spirits  has  not  yet  forsaken  the  creature  He  has  made,— that  for 
her  and  him  also,  individually,  as  well  as  for  the  Jewish  people,  corporate- 
ly,  the  words  of  the  Apostle  are  true,  '  The  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  not 
repented  of.' 


CHAP.  XI.  28—32.  219 

This  is  very  different  from  saying  that  all  men,  be  they  never  so  un- 
godly, shall  at  length  be  saved,  '  when  they  have  suffered  pain  for  'their 
sins  a  certain  time,  appointed  by  God's  justice,' — a  proposition  that  was 
very  rightly  condemned,  as  a  dangerous  opinion,  in  the  first  draft  of  the 
Articles  of  the  Church  of  England.  It  is  '  dangerous,'  assuredly,  to  mete 
out  punishment  of  any  kind,  temporal  or  never-ending,  as  an  equivalent 
appointed  by  God's  Justice  for  sin,  as  if  sin  could  be  compared  by  the 
Divine  Law  with  pain,  and  measured  out  exactly,  with  a  due  proportion 
of  it,  or,  as  if  all  sin,  which  needs  punishment  at  all,  is  equally  to  be 
visited  with  a  never-ending  judgment  of  unutterable  woe.  It  is  true,  that 
human  laws,  which  aim  more  at  prevention  of  crime,  than  amendment  of 
the  offender,  do  mete  out  in  this  way,  beforehand,  a  certain  measure  of 
punishment  for  a  certain  offence.  The  man,  who  covets  his  neighbour's 
property,  may,  if  he  like,  obtain  it  dishonestly,  at  a  certain  definite  expense. 
He  knows  he  may  possibly  escape  altogether ;  or,  at  the  worst,  he  can 
only  suffer  this  or  that  pre-arranged  penalty,  after  suffering  which  he  may 
remain,  (so  far  as  the  effect  of  the  punishment  itself  is  concerned,  and  un- 
less other  influences  act  upon  him,)  as  bad  and  as  base  a  villain  as  before. 
But  God's  punishments  are  those  of  a  Father.  And,  as  a  true,  loving, 
earthly  parent  will  never  think  of  weighing  out,  by  fixed  laws,  a  certain 
definite  measure  of  punishment,  as  the  proper  amount  of  penalty,  in  case 
his  child  commits  such  and  such  an  offence,  but  will  punish  him  with  more 
or  less  severity,  as  he  judges  to  be  needful  in  each  particular  case,  ever 
seeking,  not  merely  to  check  the  like  fault  in  others  of  his  children,  but  to 
amend  or  correct  what  is  evi>  in  the  offender  himself — sometimes,  indeed, 
remitting  punishment  altogether,  as  a  King,  in  the  exercise  of  his  fatherly 
prerogative,  may  do,  but  not  a  Judge, — even  so  will  our  gracious  Father  in 
Heaven  not  cease  to  punish,  in  this  world  or  the  next,  if  He  sees  it  to  be 
needful.  "VVe  have  no  ground  to  suppose  that  a  wicked  man  will  at  length 
be  released  from  the  pit  of  woe,  when  he  has  suffered  pain  enough  for  his 
sins,  when  he  has  suffered  time  enough,  a  '  certain  time  appointed  by  God's 
Justice.'  But  we  have  ground  to  trust  and  believe  that  a  man,  in  whose 
heart  there  is  still  Divine  Life,  in  whom  there  lingers  still  one  single  spark 
of  better  feeling,  the  gift  of  God's  Spirit,  the  token  of  a  Father's  still-con- 
tinuing Love,  will  at  length  be  saved,  not  from  suffering,  but  from  sin, 
when  he  has  suffered  suflSciently,  according  to  the  wonderful  provision  of 
God's  Love, — when  a  Father's  Hand  has  dealt  with  him  sufiiciently  to  purge 
out  the  evil  which  is  destroying  his  spirit's  life,  in  His  own  wise  way,  though 
He  may  see  it  good  toleave  His  guilty  child  for  a  time  in  the  outer  dark- 
ness, where  is  the  '  wailing,  and  weeping,  and  gnashing  of  teeth,'  to  expose 
him  to  tltc  '  Worm  which  dieth  not,  or  to  the  Fire  which  is  not  quenched.' 


220  EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

328.  V.  82.  so  that  He  may  deal  mercifully  with  them  all,  that  is,  both 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  the  whole  human  race.  These  words  may  point  to  a 
blessing  to  be  bestowed  at  some  futtcre  day;  and  the  Apostle  maybe 
speaking  of  the  whole  race  collectively,  not  of  individuals,  who  may  despise 
and  reject  then,  as  now,  the  mercy,  which  God  is  ready  to  bestow.  For 
the  word  '  all '  does  not  here,  as  iu  Rom.  v.  18,  imply  necessarily  every  in- 
dividual ;  and  St.  Paul  is,  no  doubt,  referring  in  his  mind  to  the  glorious 
time  which  shall  be,  when  Jew  and  Gentile  shall  be  partakers  together  of 
the  blessings  of  the  Gospel,  though  many  individuals  may  be  unfaithful  and 
disobedient  then,  even  as  now.  But  the  words  which  we  have  just  been 
considering,  as  well  as  other  passages  which  we  have  had  brought  before  us 
in  this  Epistle,  prove  more  than  this,  and  whatever  these  particular  words 
may  imply,  those  other  words  give  us  ground  to  beheve  that  God  has  con- 
cluded the  whole  human  race  under  sin  and  unbelief  and  disobedience,  so 
that  allowing  no  one  to  put  forth  a  claim,  as  a  matter  of  right.  He  may 
have  mercy  upon  all. 

For  what  a  mockery  of  hope  would  it  be  for  any  human  being,  one  of 
whose  choicest  '  gifts '  from  the  Hand  of  his  Creator  is  this  love  of  his  kind, 
which  makes  him  long  for  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-men,  to  be  told  that 
God  will  have  mercy  upon  some  men,  who  shall  live  ages  hence,  not  those 
who  are  living  now,  the  generation  with  which  he  himself  is  personally  con- 
versant, for  whom  he  has  laboured,  by  whom  he  has  been  loved,  or,  per- 
haps, hated  ?  It  is  for  these,  more  than  for  all  others,  that  his  soul,  like 
Stephen's,  or  like  his  Heavenly  Master's,  yearns.  And,  if  there  be  no  hope 
for  these  multitudes  of  his  own  countrymen,  acquaintance,  kinsmen, — if 
the  countless  myriads  of  his  own  age  must  go  down  into  the  pit,  and  dwell 
in  horrible,  hopeless  misery,  for  ever  and  ever, — what  matters  it  to  him 
what  will  become  of  those,  who  shall  be  born  a  thousand  years  hence,  or 
what  shall  become  of  himself,  or  the  Universe  ?  It  would  be,  indeed,  a 
drqadful  world  to  live  in.  Let  him  '  curse  God,  and  die.'  Yes  !  there  is 
one  other  course  he  might  take,  worthy  only  of  such  a  state  of  things.  He 
may  wrap  himself  up  in  utter  selfishness.  He  may  steel  his  heart  to  all 
true  and  tender  human  feeling.  Brothers  or  sisters,  children  or  friends, 
kindred,  and  country,  and  the  human  race  at  large,  what  are  they  worth 
considering,  so  that  he  can  but  save  his  own  miserable  soul  ?  Let  it  not 
embitter  his  joy  on  earth  or  in  heaven,  to  know  that  his  noble  boy  has  died 
on  some  battle-field,  cut  off  in  the  prime  of  his  career,  while  now,  at  all 
events,  doing  manfully  his  duty  in  his  station,  although  in  God's  Great 
Book,  and  in  his  own  conscience  too,  there  are  registered  sins  of  his  youth, 
which  had  not  yet  been  truly  and  deeply  repented  of,  and  washed  with 
floods  of  godly  tears, — which  now  there  is  no  time  to  repent  of,  for  he  has 


CHAP.  XI.  33—36.  221 

laid  down  his  life  in  the  service  of  his  Sovereign,  whom  God's  word  teaches 
him  to  honour  and  obey.  Or  why  should  he  suffer  it  to  grieve  his  soul, 
that  his  daughter  groans  with  a  mother's  deep  anguish  over  the  death  of 
her  child  struck  down  by  some  sudden  blow,  as  to  human  eyes  it  seems, 
without  repentance,  and,  as  some  would  say,  without  hope  ?  What  has  he 
to  do  with  such  matters,  except,  indeed,  that  he  may  use  them  as  wholesome 
medicine  for  his  own  spirit's  health  ?  They  may  serve  to  keep  him  low  in 
abasement,  to  keep  him  from  putting  too  much  trust  in  the  Power,  and 
Wisdom,  and  Faithfulness,  and  in  the  Fatherly  Love,  of  God. 

No !  the  '  gifts  and  calling  of  God  arc  not  repented  of.'  And,  whom 
He  has  called  to  know  anything  of  His  Name,  He  means  to  know  it ;  and, 
whom  He  has  endowed  with  gifts  for  serving  Him,  He  means  to  serve  Him. 
Though  it  may  be  through  a  long  and  sore  discipline,  the  work  will  be 
wrought  at  last,  and  death  and  hell  shall  be  cast  themselves  into  the  lake 
of  fire,  and  God  shall  be  all  in  all. 

CHAP.  XI.   33—36. 

(33)  0  the  depth  of  the  Kiches  and  Wisdom  and 
Knowledge  of  God  !  How  unsearchable  are  His  judg- 
ments' and  untraceable  His  ways  !  (34)  For  ^  who 
hath  known  the  Mind  of  the  Lord  ?  Or  who  hath  be- 
come His  fellow-counsellor  ?  '  (35)  Or  who  hath  given 
first  to  Him,  and  it  shall  be  returned  to  him  again  ? 
(36)  For  of  Him,  and  by  Him,  and  to  Him,  are  all 
things.     To  Him  be  glory  for  ever  !    Amen. 

NOTES. 

329.  v.  33.  0  the  depth  of  the  Riches  and  Wisdom  and  Knoioledge  of 
God  ?  Of  His  Riches,  for  '  who  hath  first  given  unto  Him  'i^  ''  of  Him  are 
all  things ; ' — of  His  Wisdom,  for '  who  hath  been  His  counsellor  ? '  '  through 
Him  are  all  things ;'  of  His  Knowledge,  for  'who  hath  known  the  Mind  of 
the  Lord,  His  plans  and  purposes,  the  way  by  which,  the  end  to  which,  all 
things  are  moving  ?    Yes !    Thanks  be  to  God,  we  do  know  the  end, — 

'  That  one  Divine  far-off  event, 
To  which  the  whole  Creation  moves.' 

To  Him  are  all  things,  to  whom  be  glory,  for  ever  and  ever !  Amen. 


222  EPISTLE    TO    THE   ROMANS. 


CHAP.  XII.    1—9. 


(1)  I  exhort  you,  then,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of 
God,  to  present  your  bodies,  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  well- 
pleasing  unto  God,  your  rational  service.  (2)  And  be 
not  fashioned  with  this  world,  but  be  transformed  by 
the  renewing  of  your  mind,  so  that  ye  may  prove  what 
is  the  will  of  God,  the  good  and  well-pleasing  and  per- 
fect. (3)  For,  1  say,  by  the  grace  which  is  given  to 
me,  to  every  one  who  is  among  you,  not  to  be  high- 
minded  beyond  what  it  is  right  to  be  minded,  but  to  be 
minded  unto  sober-mindedness,  as  God  hath  appointed 
to  each  a  measure  of  faith.  (4)  For  just  as,  in  one 
body,  we  have  many  members,  but  all  the  members 
have  not  the  same  office  ;  (5)  so  we,  being  many,  are 
one  body  in  Christ,  and  each,  singly,  members  of  one 
another.  (6)  Having  then  gifts,  differing  according  to 
the  grace  which  is  given  to  us,  whether  preaching,  let 
us  preach  according  to  the  proportion  of  faith,  (7)  or 
ministry,  let  us  abide  in  our  ministry,  or  he  that  teach- 
eth  in  his  teaching,  (8)  or  he  that  exhorteth,  in  his  ex- 
hortation ;  (9)  he  that  distributeth,  in  his  liberality ; 
he  that  presideth,  in  diligence  ;  he  that  sheweth  mercy, 
in  cheerfulness. 

NOTES. 

330.  T.  1.  Since,  then,  you  Gentiles  have»been  so  highly  blessed  with 
the  full  revelation  of  your  Father's  Love,  while  the  Jews,  as  a  body,  have 
for  the  present  been  laid  aside,  give  up  yourselves  as  a  living  sacrifice,  in- 
stead of  that  sacrifice  of  dead  beasts,  which  their  Temple  service  offered,— 
give  up  your  bodily  members  (vi.  13,  16)  to  be  agents  of  the  redeemed 
spirit,  as  '  instruments  of  righteousness,'  unto  God,  which  is  the  '  reason 
able '  service  God  desires  of  you,  as  his  children  and  intelligent  creatures, — 
not  a  system  of  ritual  observances,  the  time  for  which  is  now  gone  by,  but 


CHAP.  XII.  9—21.  223 

the  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  which  God  delights  in,  which  becomes  a 
living,  enlightened,  reasonable  man. 

331.  V,  2.  Do  not  fashion  yourselves,  or  guide  your  actions,  by  the 
rules  and  maxims  of  the  world.  Let  not  your  aims  and  ends  be  low  and 
grovelUng.  But  fix  the  eyes  of  your  mind  on  high ;  have  God  in  your 
thoughts  always,  and  seeli  to  be  changed  more  and  more  from  your  old 
natural  state  into  the  likeness  of  your  Lord.  So  shall  you  grow  more  truly 
and  perfectly  to  know  your  Heavenly  Father's  will.  Your  spiritual  senses 
shall  be  quickened,  and  in  God's  own  Light  you  shall  see  light. 

332.  V.  3.  For,  though  a  stranger,  and  unknown  to  you  in  person,  yet, 
through  the  oflSce  with  which  I  am  entrusted,  and  the  grace  which  God 
has  given  me  for  the  right  discharge  of  it,  I  give  this  charge  to  you  all,  that 
you,  each  one,  labour,  according  to  the  gift  of  God,  which  you  have  sever- 
ally received,  to  bring  forth  fruit  to  his  praise,  harmoniously  co-operating, 
as  members  of  one  body,  each  one  honouring  and  esteeming  the  other  for 
the  gift  he  possesses,  though  it  may  be  different  from  his  own,  each  con- 
tributing his  own  share  to  the  common  end,  but  all  working  together  to 
glorify  God  by  the  willing  sacrifice  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  which  are 
His. 

333.  V.  6.  p7'eachi7i(/.  This  appears  to  be  the  modern  word,  most 
nearly  corresponding  to  that  which  is  usually  translated  '  prophesying,'  but 
which  is  used  to  express  the  gift,  granted  to  some  then  as  now,  and  in  all 
ages  of  the  Church,  of  speaking  boldly  out,  in  strong,  stirring  language,  the 
living  truths  of  God,  and  exhibiting  their  bearings  upon  the  past,  the  pre- 
sent, and  the  future. 

334.  V.  6.  according  to  the  proportion  of  faith,  that  Is,  according  to  the 
measure  of  faith  he  has  received,  not  with  an  over-beariDg,  self-magnifying 
spirit,  but  with  the  moderation  of  men,  who  remember  that  the  talents 
which  they  use,  are  God's,  and  that  they  are  responsible  for  the  due  use  of 
them,  whatever  they  may  be. 

CHAP.  XII.    9—21. 

(9)  Let  love  be  unfeigned.  Be  ye  hating  evil, 
cleaving  to  good, — (10)  in  brotherly  love  affectionate 
to  one  another, — in  honour  preferring  one  another, — 
(11)  in  diligence,  not  slothful,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving 
the  Lord, — (12)  rejoicing  in  hope,  enduring  patiently  in 
tribulation,  persevering  in  prayer, — (13)  imparting  to 


2^4  EriSTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

the  necessities  of  the  saints,  following  after  hospitality. 

(14)  Bless  them  that  persecute  you,  bless,  and  curse  not. 

(15)  Bememher  to  rejoice  with  the  rejoicing  and  weep 
with  the  weeping.  (16)  Be  of  the  same  mind  to  one 
another.,  not  minding  high  things,  but  led  away  with 
humble  things.  Become  not  wise  in  your  own  conceits. 
(17)  Repay  to  no  one  evil  for  evil.  Provide  things 
excellent  in  the  sight  of  all  men.  (18)  If  possible,  for 
your  part,  keep  peace  with  all  men.  (19)  Avenge  not 
yourselves,  beloved,  but  give  place  to  wrath ;  for  it  is 
written,  ^  Vengeance  is  for  me,  I  will  repay,  saith  the 
Lord.'  (20)  If,  then,  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him  ; 
if  he  thirst,  give  him  drink  ;  for,  this  doing,  thou  shalt 
heap  coals  of  fire  upon  his  head.  (21)  Be  not  overcome 
by  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good. 

XOTES. 

385.  V.  16.  led  away  loith^  going  contentedly  off  with,  'putting  up' 
cheerfully  with. 

336.  V.  20.  thou  shalt  heap  coals  of  fire  upon  his  head,  that  is,  in  this 
very  way  you  will  be  taking  the  most  effectual  means  to  melt  him  into 
amity  and  love,  even  if  you  do  not  succeed,  because  of  the  hardness  of  his 
heart. 

3  3  7.  It  must  be  noted,  as  remarked  in  the  Introduction  (p.  4),  that  not 
a  word  is  said  in  this  chapter  about  Church  offices  of  any  kind  or  ordained 
ministers.  For  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  the  expression  in  verse  8, 
'he  that  presideth,'  can  point  to  him,  who  presides  in  the  Church,  as 
Bishop,  Presbyter,  or  Pastor,  inasmuch  as  that,  which  would  be  the  higher 
office,  would  then,  in  the  Apostle's  list,  come  after  the  lower  offices  of 
'  preaching,'  '  ministering,'  '  teaching,'  '  exhorting,'  '  distributing,'  and 
would  be  thrust  in  confusedly  before  that  of  showing  mercy. 

CHAP.  XIII.    1—14. 

(1)  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  the  superior  author- 
ities.     For  there  is  no  authority,  except  from  God ; 


CHAr.  XIII.  1 — 14.  ■  225 

but  the  authorities,  that  are,  have  been  ordained  of 
God.  (2)  So,  then,  he,  who  resisteth  the  authority, 
resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God ;  but  they,  who  resist, 
shall  take  to  themselves  condemnation.  (3)  For  rulers 
are  not  a  terror  of  good  works,  but  of  evil.  But  wilt 
thou  not  be  afraid  of  the  authority  ?  Be  doing  the 
good,  and  thou  shalt  have  the  praise  from  it  (tJie  au- 
thority). (4)  For  it  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for 
good.  But,  if  thou  do  the  evil,  be  afraid  ;  for  it  is  the 
minister  of  God,  an  avenger  of  wrath  to  him  that  does 
evil.  (5)  Wherefore  it  is  needful  to  be  subject,  not 
only  with  a  view  to  the  wrath,  but  also  with  a  view  to 
conscience.  (6)  For,  with  a  view  to  this,  pay  ye  tribute 
also  ;  for  they  {the  collectors)  are  officers  of  God,  attend- 
ing continually  on  this  particular  thing.  (7)  Bender, 
therefore,  to  all  their  dues,  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is 
due,  tax  to  whom  tax,  fear  to  whom  fear,  honour  to 
whom  honour.  (8)  Be  owing  nothing  to  any  one,  ex- 
cept to  love  one  another ;  for  he,  that  loveth  the  other, 
has  fulfilled  the  law.  (9)  For  that,  '  Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery,'  '  Thou  shalt  not  kill,'  ^  Thou  shalt 
not  steal,'  '  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness,'  ^  Thou 
shalt  not  covet,'  and,  if  there  be  any  other  command- 
ment, it  is  being  summed  up  in  this  word,  namely, 
^  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.'  (10)  Love 
worketh  no  ill  to  one's  neighbour ;  love,  then,  is  the 
fulfilling  of  the  law.  (11)  And  that  do,  knowing  the 
season,  that  it  is  time  for  us  now  to  be  roused  out  of 
sleep  ;  for  now  is  salvation  nearer  to  us,  than  when  we 
believed.  (12)  The  night  is  far  spent,  but  the  day  is  at 
hand.  Let  us  put  off,  then,  the  works  of  darkness,  and 
put  on  the  equipment  of  light.  (13)  As  if  in  the  day, 
10* 


226  EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMAXS. 

let  us  walk  becomingly,  not  in  i-evels  and  drunkenness, 
not  in  chambering  and  wantonness,  not  in  strife  and 
party-spirit.  (14)  But  put  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  make  not  provision  for  the  flesh  unto  lusts. 

NOTES. 

338.  It  is  remarkable  that,  in  the  above  passage  also,  where  an  oc- 
casion is  so  obviously  given  for  it,  there  is  no  reference  to  any  ecclesiastical 
authority  of  any  kind  existing  at  Rome.  Nero  was  at  this  time  the  Roman 
Emperor. 

339.  Whereas  they  are  for  judging  and  condemning  their  rulers,  they 
shall  be  condemned  themselves. 

340.  V.  4.  an  avenger  to  execute  wrath.  They  are  ministers  to  execute 
'  wrath,'  as  well  as  blessing,  executing  on  His  behalf,  and,  in  their  meas- 
ure, helping  to  reveal  that  wrath  of  God  which  is  declared  against  all  wil- 
ful evil. 

341.  V.  5.  It  is  plain  that  St.  Paul  does  teach  in  this  chapter  the 
duty  of  absolute  submission  to  constituted  authority,  acting  within  its  own 
proper  sphere.  But  it  would  be  wrong  to  quote  a  few  texts,  such  as  these, 
as  expressing  the  wJiole  of  the  Apostle's  mind  upon  the  subject.  What- 
ever lesson  we  may  wish  to  draw  from  his  teaching,  on  these  and  other 
matters,  must  be  drawn  from  a  general  view  of  all  that  he  has  said  and 
done,  not  from  a  few  words  only,  which  he  might  have  modified  with  ref- 
erence to  special  circumstances.  For  instance,  '  Be  doing  good,  and  thou 
shalt  have  praise  of  the  authority,'  would,  certainly,  not  apply  to  all  the 
acts  of  the  Roman  Emperor,  Nero,  or  his  officers.  And,  in  the  rapid 
changes  of  government,  which  took  place  after  his  death,  when,  within 
twelve  months,  there  were  four  Emperors,  whose  supporters  fought  with 
one  another,  it  must  have  been  difficult  for  a  Christian  of  '  Caesar's  house- 
hold '  not  to  feel  it  to  be  his  duty  to  resist  the  '  superior  authority '  for  the 
time  being,  and  seek  to  place  a  Vespasian  in  the  room  of  a  Vitellius,  or  to 
do  what  Cranmer,  Ridley,  and  Latimer  did,  when  they  supported  Lady  Jane 
Grey  upon  the  throne,  which  belonged  to  Queen  Mary. 

The  point,  however,  of  his  teaching,  is  this,  that  we  are  to  regard  all 
rightly  constituted  authority  as  God's  merciful  provision  for  good,  and,  as 
such,  to  reverence  and  submit  to  it, — to  make  this  our  ruling  principle  of 
life,  not  only  for  fear  of  punishment,  but  also  for  conscience'  sake,  and  the 
sense  of  duty  towards  God — whatever  exceptions  we  may,  for  conscience' 
sake,  and  a  sense  of  duty  tov,^ards  God  in  matters  of  yet  higher  moment,  be 
compelled  to  make  at  times  in  the  carrying  out  of  the  ride. 


CHAP.  XIV.  1—23.  227 

342.  V.  8,  You  can  never  pay  the  debt  of  love.  You  must  always  be 
owing  that,  though  you  pay  daily. 

343.  V.  11.  The  'salvation,'  here  referred  to,  as  near  at  hand,  is  prob- 
ably that  which  would  be  manifested  at  the  appearance  of  the  Lord,  which 
the  Apostle  thought  was  immment.  '  The  Day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand, 
nearer  than  it  was  when  we  first  received  the  message  of  His  Love  in  the 
Gospel.  Let  us  prepare  for  the  coming  of  our  King  and  the  brightness  of 
His  appearing.' 

CHAP.  XIV.    1—23. 

(1)  Him  that  is  weak  in  the  faith  take  to  yourselves, 
hut  not  for  decisions  of  doubts.  (2)  For  one  believes 
to  eat  all  things  ;  but  one,  who  is  weak,  eats  herbs. 
(3)  Let  not  him,  that  eats,  despise  him  that  eats  not, 
and  let  not  him,  that  eats  not,  judge  him  that  eats  ; 
for  God  took  him  to  liimself  (4)  You,  who  are  you, 
that  judgest  another  man's  domestic  ?  To  his  own 
master  he  stands  or  falls.  Nay,  but  he  shall  be  kept 
standing  ;  for  God  is  able  to  make  him  stand.  (5)  One 
esteems  one  day  above  another  ;  another  esteems  every 
day.  Let  each  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind. 
(6)  He,  that  regards  the  day,  regards  it  to  the  Lord ; 
and  he,  that  regards  not  the  day,  to  the  Lord  he  regards 
it  not.  He  that  eats,  eats  to  the  Lord  ;  for  he  thanks 
God  ;  and  he  that  eats  not,  to  the  Lord  he  eats  not,  and 
thanks  God.  (7)  For  no  one  lives  to  himself,  and  no 
one  dies  to  himself.  (8)  For,  whether  we  live,  we  live 
unto  the  Lord ;  or,  whether  we  die,  we  die  unto  the 
Lord.  "Whether,  therefore,  we  live,  or  whether  we  die, 
we  are  the  Lord's.  (9)  For  to  this  end  Christ  both 
died,  and  lived,  so  that  He  may  have  lordship  both  over 
dead  and  living  men.  (10)  But  thou,  why  judgest 
thou  thy  brother  ?      Or  thou  too,  why  despisest  thou 


228  EPISTLE   TO    THE   ROMANS. 

thy  brother  ?  For  we  shall  all  present  ourselves  before 
the  tribunal  of  God.  (11)  For  it  is  written,  ^As  I  live, 
saith  the  Lord,  to  me  shall  every  knee  bow,  and  every 
tongue  shall  confess  to  God/  (12)  So  then  each  of  us 
shall  give  account  for  himself  to  God.  (13)  Let  us  no 
longer,  then,  be  judging  one  another.  But  this  deter- 
mine rather,  not  to  lay  a  stumbhngblock  for  a  brother, 
or  a  snare.  (14)  I  know  and  am  sure  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
that  nothing  is  unclean  of  itself ;  only  to  one,  that  con- 
sidereth  anything  to  be  unclean,  to  him  it  is  unclean. 
(15)  But  if  for  food's  sake  thy  brother  is  being  grieved, 
thou  art  no  longer  walking  according  to  charity.  Do 
not  with  thy  food  be  destroying  him,  on  behalf  of  whom 
Christ  died.  (16)  Let  not  then  your  good  be  evil  spoken 
of  (17)  For  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink, 
but  righteousness  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 
(18)  For  he,  that  in  this  serveth  Christ,  is  well-pleasing 
to  God,  and  approved  of  men.  (19)  So,  then,  let  us 
follow  after  the  things  of  peace,  and  things  of  edifica- 
tion for  one  another.  (20)  Do  not,  on  account  of  meat, 
be  destroying  the  work  of  God.  All  things,  indeed,  are 
clean  ;  but  it  is  ill  to  that  man  who  eats  with  a  stum- 
blingblock.  (21)  It  is  good  not  to  eat  flesh,  nor  drink 
wine,  nor  any  thing  whereby  thy  brother  stumbleth,  or 
is  snared,  or  is  weak.  (22)  The  faith,  which  thou  hast, 
have  to  thyself  before  God.  Happy  is  the  man,  who 
condemneth  not  himself  in  that  which  he  approveth. 
(23)  But  he,  that  doubteth,  is  condemned  if  he  eat, 
because  it  (Jiis  act)  is  not  of  faith.  But  everything, 
which  is  not  of  faith,  is  sin. 


CHAP.  XIV.  1—23.  229 


NOTES. 

344.  The  Apostle  well  knew  that  in  Rome,  as  everywhere  else,  there 
would  be  sure  to  arise  disputes  between  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  believers ; 
and  while  desirous  that  the  latter  should  be  freed  from  the  yoke  of  cere- 
monial observances,  he  wished  them  charitably  to  respect  the  scruples  of 
their  Jewish  brethren,  and  these,  on  the  other  hand,  not  to  condemn  the 
liberty  of  the  others.   " 

345.  V.  1.  hi  the  faith,  m  the  Christian  faith,  not  yet  understanding 
the  principles  of  Christianity,  not  realizing  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ 
has  made  us  free,  and  still  retauiing  more  or  less  of  the  Jewish  scrupulosity. 

346.  V.  1.  take  to  yourselves,  as  an  associate,  in  a  friendly  and  kindly 
spirit. 

347.  V.  1.  woif /or  (?easzons  o/f/o^ii^s,  not  to  decide  about  his  scruples, 
or  put  them  down,  in  a  short,  sharp,  peremptory  way,  condemning  them  as 
needless,  or  ridiculing  them  as  absurd. 

348.  V.  2.  eat  herbs,  for  fear  of  eating  unclean  meat,  things  strangled, 
blood,  &c.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  reference  here  to  food  offered 
to  idols. 

349.  V.  3.  took  him  to  Himself,  when  He  called  him  to  the  knowledge 
of  His  Word  of  Life  in  the  Gospel,  and  took  him  to  Himself  as  a  servant, 
yea,  rather,  as  a  child, 

350.  V,  15,  Do  not  for  thy  paltry  morsel  of  food  be  destroying  (be  for 
destroying),  humanly  speaking,  and  as  far  as  in  you  lies,  one  on  behalf 
of  whom  Christ  was  willing  to  forego,  not  merely  food,  indeed,  but  life 
itself. 

351.  V.  4,  '  You  may  condemn  him  as  strongly  as  you  please,  because 
he  does  not  walk  by  your  rule,  or  utter  the  Shibboleth  of  your  party.  But 
in  God's  sight  he  is  not  condemned,  if  sincere  in  his  desire  and  aim,  to 
please  in  all  things  the  Great  Master,  who  is  the  only  true  Judge  of  all  His 
servants'  doings. 

352.  v,  6.  The  Apostle  says  that  the  man,  who  keeps  the  day,  as  the 
Sunday,  even  with  Jewish  strictness,  because  he  believes  it  to  be  his 
Lord's  will  that  he  should,  is  keepmg  it  to  the  Lord,  and  will  receive  his 
reward.  But  he  says  also,  that  he  who  does  not  keep  it  with  the  same 
strictness,  but  does  this  with  a  conscientious  desire  to  please  his  Heavenly 
Master,  by  using  soberly  and  thankfully  the  hberty  wherewith  Christ  has 
made  him  free,  is  equally  pleasing  to  his  Lord,  and  will  receive  also  his 
reward. 

353.  V.  V.     For  this  is  the  true  Spirit  of  a  Christian's  life,  that  he 


230  EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

should  give  up,  not  one  day  in  seven,  but  all  his  days — his  whole  Kfe, 
and  his  death  also, — to  the  Lord  who  owns  him, 

354.  V.  9.  He  is  the  Lord  both  of  dead  and  living;  He  rules  in  the 
world  beyond  the  grave  as  here ;  He  appoints  to  each  the  portion  of  bless- 
ing or  of  chastisement  after  death,  as  in  life. 

355.  V.  16.  '  It  is  a  good  thing,  we  might  say,  to  know  that  Christ 
does  not  require  of  us  the  observance  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath.  It  is  a  good 
thing  to  know  that,  without  a  form  of  prayer,  or  set  times  and  places, 
"  neither  in  Jerusalem,  nor  in  this  mountain,"  we  can  worship  the  Father 
— to  know  that  there  is  no  rite,  or  ceremony,  or  ordinance,  that  God  cannot 
dispense  with,  or,  rather,  that  there  is  none  which  we  are  required  to  ob- 
serve, except  so  far  as  they  tend  to  a  moral  end.  It  is  a  good  thing  to 
know  that  Revelation  can  be  interpreted  by  no  other  light  than  that  of 
Reason.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  know  that  God  is  not  extreme  to  mark  hu- 
man infirmities  in  our  lives  and  in  our  conduct.  But  all  this  may  serve  for 
a  cloak  of  licentiousness,  may  be  a  scandal  among  men,  and,  humanly 
speaking,  the  destruction  of  those  for  whom  Christ  died.'     Jowett. 

356.  V.  IT.  The  joyful  freedom  of  God's  Kingdom  does  not  consist  in 
having  license  to  enjoy  freely  the  good  things  of  this  life — but  in  the  living 
joy  and  freedom  of  the  heart,  in  the  sense  of  God's  favour,  in  the  power  to 
live  as  becomes  a  child  of  God  glorifying  Him,  either  in  the  thankful  use 
of  His  bounties,  or,  if  we  can  serve  Him  better  among  our  brethren  by  so 
doing,  in  the  cheerful  resignation  of  them. 

35*7.  V.  18.  he  that  in  those  things.  It  is  very  possible  that  the  true 
reading  here  is,  '  he  that  in  this,' — ^namely,  in  the  Holy  Ghost — '  serveth 
Christ,  is  pleasing  to  God,  and  approved  among  men.'  And  the  truth  is, 
that  even  worldly  men  will  secretly  honour  the  faithful  life  of  a  true  Chris- 
tian, who  follows  righteousness  and  peace  among  men,  renouncing  his  own 
private  wishes  for  the  sake  of  others,  and  content  with  that  rich  treasure  of 
heart-joy,  which  God  will  abundantly  pour  into  his  bosom. 

358.  V.  21.  There  must  be,  of  course,  a  limit  to  this.  It  would  do 
our  brother  no  good  merely  to  give  way  to  some  idle  fancy  or  ignorant 
prejudice  of  his.  And  there  are  cases  (as,  for  instance,  with  reference  to 
the  observance  of  the  Sunday  or  Tee-totalism)  in  which  it  is  absolutely  ne- 
cessary, for  his  good,  that  we  refuse  to  comply  with  his  morbid  scruples 
and  mistaken  practices,  and  eat  flesh  and  drink  wine,  in  order  to  express 
our  plain  dissent  from  them.  Only  on  such  occasions,  let  us  remember  that 
we  have  to  answer  to  our  Lord  for  our  conduct  in  such  a  matter.  Let  us 
take  care  that  we  are  not  influenced  by  a  merely  selfish  and  self-asserting 
spirit — that  we  are  clear  as  to  the  duty  of  maintaining  a  higher  principle, 
at  a  sacrifice,  for  the  present,  of  this  rule  of  the  Apostle — that  we  are 


CHAP.  XV.  1—13.  231 

ready  in  heart   to  act  upon   it  still,   whenever  a   right   occasion  calls 
for  it. 

359.  V.  23.  '  There  are  many  occasions  in  which  our  first  thoughts, 
or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  our  instinctive  perceptions,  are  true  and  right, 
— in  which  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  he,  who  deliberates,  is  lost.  The 
very  act  of  turning  to  a  book,  or  referring  to  another,  enfeebles  our  power 
of  action.  Works  of  art  are  produced  we  know  not  how,  by  some  simul- 
taneous movement  of  hand  and  thought,  which  seems  to  lend  to  each  other 
force  and  meaning.  So,  in  moral  action,  the  true  view  does  not  separate 
the  intention  from  the  act,  or  the  act  from  the  circumstances  which  sur- 
round it,  but  regards  them  as  one,  and  absolutely  indivisible.  In  the  per- 
formance of  the  act,  and  in  the  judgment  of  it,  the  will  and  the  execution, 
the  hand  and  the  thought,  are  to  be  considered  as  one.  Those,  who  act 
most  energetically,  who  in  difficult  circumstances  judge  the  most  truly,  do 
not  separately  pass  in  review  the  rules,  and  principles,  and  counter-prin- 
ciples, of  action,  but  grasp  them  at  once  in  a  single  instant.  Those,  who 
act  most  truthfully,  honestly,  firmly,  manfully,  consistently,  take  least  time 
to  deliberate.  Such  should  be  the  attitude  of  our  minds  in  all  questions 
of  right  and  wrong,  truth  and  falsehood.  We  may  not  inquire,  but  act.' 
Jowett. 

CHAP.  XV.    1—13. 

(1)  We,  however,  who  are  strong,  ought  to  be  bear- 
ing the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  not  to  be  pleasing  our- 
selves. (2)  Let  each  of  us  please  his  neighbour  for 
good  unto  edification.  (3)  For  even  Christ  pleased  not 
Himself,  but,  as  it  is  written,  ^  The  revilings  of  those 
reviling  Thee  fell  on  me.'  (4)  For  what  things  were 
written  aforetime,  were  written  aforetime  for  our  in- 
struction, so  that,  through  endurance  and  comfort  of 
the  Scriptures,  we  may  have  our  hope.  (5)  But  the 
God  of  endurance  and  comfort  grant  you  to  have  one 
mind  among  one  another,  according  to  Christ  Jesus ; 

(6)  so  that,  with  one  accord,  with  one  mouth,  ye  may 
glorify  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

(7)  Wherefore  take  to  yourselves  one  another,  as  Christ 


232  EPISTLE    TO    THE   KOMAKS. 

also  took  you  to  Himself,  to  the  glory  of  God.  (8)  I 
mean  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  minister  of  circumcision 
for  the  Truth  of  Grocl,  so  as  to  confirm  the  promises 
made  unto  the  fathers  ;  (9)  but  that  the  Gentiles  for 
His  Mercy  should  glorify  God,  as  it  is  written,  '  For 
this  cause  will  I  confess  to  Thee  among  the  Gentiles, 
and  sing  unto  Thy  Name/  (10)  And  again,  he  says, 
^Kejoice,  ye  Gentiles,  with  His  people/  (11)  And 
again,  ^  Praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  Gentiles,  and  laud  Him, 
all  ye  peoples/  (12)  And  again,  Esaias  saith,  ^  There 
shall  be  the  root  of  Jesse,  and  He  who  is  to  rise  up  to 
rule  over  the  Gentiles  ;  in  Him  shall  the  Gentiles  hope/ 
(13)  Now  the  God  of  hope  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace 
in  believing,  so  that  you  may  abound  in  hope,  through 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

NOTES. 

360.  V.  3.  even  Christ,  our  Lord  and  Master,  lived  not  to  please  Him- 
self; He  bare  our  griefs,  and  carried  our  infirmities.  Surely,  then,  we 
may  well  bear  the  infirmities  of  one  another. 

361.  V.  3.  as  it  is  written,  d'c.  If  this  passage  be  understood  in  its 
strict  meaning,  as  it  occurs  in  the  Psalm,  St.  Paul  quotes  it  as  prophetical 
of  the  Messiah,  feeling  the  revilings  of  those  who  reviled  His  Heavenly 
Father.  But  St.  Paul  possibly  quotes  it  in  his  usual  way,  merely,  as  il- 
lustrating the  self-sacrificing,  sympathising  spirit  of  our  Lord's  life,  with- 
out recalling  distinctly  to  his  mind  to  whom  the  pronoun  '  Thee '  pointed. 
'  He  pleased  not  Himself; '  but  his  whole  life  is  well  described  in  that  pas- 
sage of  the  Psalmist,  '  who  suffers  when  another  suffers,  and  is  reviled 
when  he  is  reviled.' 

362.  V.  4.  It  is  difficult  to  see  whether  the  Apostle  means  to  say, 
'  through  the  exercise  of  endurance  on  our  parts,  and  through  the  comfort 
which  we  derive  from  the  Scriptures,'  or  rather  '  through  the  endurance 
and  comfort  of  the  Scriptures,'  that  is,  through  the  examples  of  endurance 
and  comfort,  which  we  find  in  the  Scriptures. 

363.  V,  o.  the  God  of  endurance  and  comfort,  that  is,  the  Giver  of  the 
grace  of  endurance  and  of  all  consolation. 


CHAP.  XV.  14: — 33.  233 

364.  V.  1.  take  to  yourselves  one  another^  both  Jew  and  Gentile, — live 
in  mutual  love  with  one  another,  since  Christ  has  taken  you  both  together 
in  one  body  to  Himself. 

365.  V.  8.  On  the  one  hand,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  minister  of  the  circum- 
cision, to  confirm  the  ancient  promises,  to  make  good  the  Truth  of  God  to 
the  Jews  ;  on  the  other  hand.  He  is  the  Messenger  of  God's  Free  Grace 
and  Mercy  to  the  Gentiles. 

366.  V.  9.  as  it  is  writteji,  dtc.  As  this  doctrine,  of  the  admission  of 
the  Gentiles  to  equal  privileges  with  themselves,  was  so  strange  and  un- 
palatable to  the  Jews  of  his  day,  St.  Paul  quotes  again  several  passages 
from  the  prophetical  writings,  to  show  that  it  is  no  new  doctrine  after  all, 
— that  they  might  have  understood  the  mind  of  God  all  along  in  this 
respect, — for  the  Gentiles  are  everywhere  mingled  up  with  the  blessings 
promised  to  the  Jewish  people. 

SQl.  v.  9.  for  this  cause  will  I  confess  to  Thee  among  the  Gentiles,  dec. 
These  words  are  quoted  from  the  LXX.  of  Psalm  xviii.  49,  and  are  parts 
of  David's  song  of  praise,  '  In  the  day  that  the  Lord  delivered  him  from 
the  hand  of  all  his  enemies,  and  from  the  hand  of  Saul.'  St.  Paul  here 
adapts  this  to  his  own  purpose. 

368.  V.  10.  Rejoice,  ye  Gentiles,  with  His  people.  'These  words  are 
taken  from  Deut.  xxxii.  43,  in  which  passage  Moses  exhorts  the  heathen  to 
sing  the  praises  of  God  for  His  dealings  with  the  Jewish  people.  The  verse 
in  the  LXX.  is  greatly  interpolated,  and,  in  the  midst  of  the  interpolation, 
exhibits  the  words  here  quoted.'     Jowett. 

368.  V.  11.  Praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  Gentiles,  d'c.  "  These  words  are 
taken,  with  a  slight  change  in  their  order,  from  Psalm  cxvii.  1.  The  writer 
of  the  Psalm  meant  to  say,  '  Praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  nations,  for  His  Good- 
ness to  Israel,  His  people.'  The  application  which  St.  Paul  makes  of  the 
words,  is,  '  Praise  the  Lord,  0  ye  Gentiles,  for  He  has  given  you  a  share  in 
His  Mercies  to  the  House  of  Israel.' "    Joioett. 


CHAP.  XV.   14—33. 

(14)  And  I  myself  also  am  persuaded,  my  brethren^ 
concerning  you,  that  you  yourselves  also  are  full  of  good- 
ness, being  filled  witli  all  knowledge,  being  able  also  to 
admonish  one  another.  (15)  But  I  wrote  the  more 
boldly  to  you,  brethren,  in  some  measure  as  reminding 
you  once  again,  through  the  grace  which  has  been  given 


234  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

to  me  by  God,  (16)  so  as  that  I  should  be  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  the  Grentiles,  officiating  as  to  the  Gos- 
pel of  God,  that  so  the  offering  up  of  the  Gentiles  may- 
be acceptable,  sanctified  by  the  Holy  Ghost.     (17)  I 
have,  then,  my  confidence  in  Christ  Jesus  in  things 
pertaining  to  God.     (18)  For  I  will  not  undertake  to 
say  anything  of  that,  which  Christ  has  not  wrought  by 
me,  for  the  obedience  of  the  Gentiles,  by  word  and 
deed,  (19)  by  the  might  of  signs  and  wonders,  by  the 
might  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;   so  that  from  Jerusalem, 
and  all  round  to  Illyricum,  I  have  published  fully  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,  (20)  but  so  making  it  a  point  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  not  where  Christ  was  named,  that 
so  I  may  not  be  building  on  another  man's  foundation. 
(21)  But,  as  it  is  written,  '  They  to  whom  it  was  not 
reported  about  Him,  shall  see,  and  they  who  have  not 
heard,  shall  understand.'     (22)  For  which  cause  also  I 
was  chiefly  hindered  from  coming  to  you.      (23)    But 
now,  having  no  more  place  in  these  parts,  and  having 
had   a  longing    these   many   years   to   come   io  you, 
(24)  whenever  I  journey  into  Spain  I  will  come  to  you. 
For  I  hope,  on  my  journey  through,  to  see  you,  and  be 
forwarded  on  by  you  thither,  if  first  I  shall  have  had  in 
a  measure  my  fill  of  you.     (25)  But  now  I  am  going  to 
journey  to  Jerusalem,  ministering  to  the  saints.      (26) 
For  Macedonia  and  Achaia  have  thought  good  to  make 
a  certain  contribution   for  the   poor  of  the  saints   in 
Jerusalem.     (27)  They  have  thought  good,  truly,  and 
they  are  their  debtors.     For,  if  the  Gentiles  were  made 
to  share  in  their  spiritual  things,  they  ought  also  to 
minister  to  them  in  fleshly  things.     (28)  Having  then 
completed  this,  and  having  sealed  to  them  this  fruit,  I 


CHAP.  XV.  14—33.  235 

shall  go  off  by  you  into  Spain.  (29)  But  I  know  that, 
coming  to  you,  I  shall  come  with  the  fulness  of  the 
blessing  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  (30)  But  I  exhort 
you,  brethren,  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the 
Love  of  the  Spirit,  to  strive  together  with  me,  in 
prayers  on  my  behalf  before  God  ;  (31)  so  that  I  may 
be  delivered  from  the  unbelieving  in  Judeea,  and  so  that 
my  ministry  to  Jerusalem  may  turn  out  acceptable  to 
the  saints  ;  (32)  so  that  I  may  come  with  joy  to  you  by 
the  Will  of  God,  and  refresh  myself  with  you.  (33)  But 
the  God  of  peace  be  with  you  ail.    Amen. 

NOTES. 

369.  V.  14.  I  know  that  you  do  not  need  these  words  of  mine.  And 
this,  in  fact,  emboldened  me  the  more  to  write  rather  freely  to  you,  as 
only  reminding  you,  in  discharge  of  my  duty  as  an  Apostle,  of  what  you 
know  already.  '  St,  Paul  was  a  man  of  the  finest  manners  ever  known.' 
Coleridge. 

SYO.  V.  17.  As  then  a  minister  of  Christ  to  the  Gentiles,  I  can  proceed 
with  confidence  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty,  as,  for  instance,  that  of  now 
addressing  you, — a  confidence  placed,  not,  of  course,  in  myself,  but  in  my 
Lord. 

3*71.  V.  18.  I  will  not  undertake  to  say  anything  of  that  mhich  Christ 
has  not  lorought  hy  me.  These  words  are  usually  explained  to  mean,  '  I 
will  not  speak  of  anything  which  Christ  has  wrought  by  the  other  Apostles, 
or  by  my  disciples, — only  of  what  He  has  wrought  by  myself  individually.* 
But,  possibly,  they  may  be  used  in  the  English  idiom,  '  I  will  not  say  what 
Christ  has  not  done  by  me,'  that  is,  '  He  has  wrought  all  kinds  of  wonder- 
ful results  by  me.'     The  context,  which  follows,  certainly  favours  this. 

372.  v,  19.  all  round  to  Illyricum.  Perhaps,  St.  Paul  refers  to  what 
he  did,  as  briefly  mentioned  in  Acts  xx.  1,2,'  when  he  departed  for  to  go 
into  Macedonia.  And  when  he  had  gone  over  those  parts,  and  had  given 
them  much  exhortation,  he  came  into  Greece.' 

373.  v.  21.  I  made  it  a  point,  rather  to  act  in  the  spirit  of  those  pro- 
phetic words,  &c. 

374.  V.  22.  And  this, — namely,  my  being  engaged  in  preaching  to 
others,  who  had  never  had  a  teacher, — was  the  reason  of  my  being  delayed 
in  coming  to  you. 


236  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOIklANS. 

3*75.  V.  24.  St.  Paul  does  not  speak  of  coming  expressly  to  Rome,  for 
the  purpose  of  seeing  them,  and  staying  with  them,  perhaps  for  some 
mouths  or  years,  as  he  had  done  at  Corinth  and  Ephesus.  That  would 
have  been  too  bold  a  proposal,  for  a  man  of  his  refined  delicacy  of  feeling. 
He  will  see  them  in  passing^  meaning,  we  may  be  sure,  to  stay  with  them 
as  long  as  he  found  it  desirable  to  do  so. 

376.  V.  27.  they  are  their  debtors,  that  is,  it  is  quite  right  that  they 
should  do  this,  it  is  no  more  than  they  are  bound  to  do. 

377.  V.  29.  I  shall  come  to  you  with  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  He  refers  to  the  rich  spiritual  blessings,  which  God  (he 
was  sure)  would  impart  to  them  by  his  ministry,  or,  rather,  (i.  11,  12) 
which  he  himself  should  be  privileged  to  share  with  them  in  the  communion 
of  saints. 

378.  V.  30.  St.  Paul,  it  seems,  had  a  strong  presentiment  of  the  dangers 
which  threatened  him  at  Jerusalem,  and  which  made  him  say  to  the  elders 
of  Ephesus,  '  Ye  shall  see  my  face  no  more.' 

379.  V.  31.  These  dangers  threatened  liim  from  two  sources,  (1)  the 
open  hostility  of  the  unbelieving  Jews,  (2)  the  secret  suspicions  of  the  be- 
lieving Jews.  These  latter  he  hoped  to  quiet  by  the  signs  of  'respect  and 
love  which  he  brought  from  the  Gentile  Churches,  if  they  would  accept 
the  present  pleasantly  from  his  hands.  Nothing  is  said  in  Acts  xxi.  about 
the  way  in  which  these  offerings  of  the  Gentiles  were  received  by  the 
Church  at  Jerusalem  :  and,  in  fact,  the  whole  tone  of  the  passage  in  Acts 
xxi.  20-25,  implies  that  there  was  still  no  friendly  feeling  for  him  among 
the  '  multitude,'  the  '  many  thousands '  of  Jews  which  '  believed,'  and  were 
all  '  zealous  of  the  Law.' 

380.  V.  32.  so  that  I  may  come  ivithjoy  to  you^  by  the  will  of  God,  and 
refresh  myself  loith  you.  'Man  proposes,  God  disposes.'  St.  Paul  came 
to  them,  indeed,  at  the  very  time  he  contemplated,  as  soon  as  he  had  taken 
these  gifts  to  Jerusalem.  But  he  came  as  a  prisoner, — after  having  been 
'  beaten '  and  nearly  '  pulled  to  pieces '  by  his  own  countrymen, — '  bound ' 
by  the  chief  captain,  and  ordered  to  be  '  examined  by  scourging,'  brought 
before  the  '  chief  priests  and  all  their  council,' — plotted  against  by  '  more 
than  forty  men,  who  bound  themselves  under  a  curse,  saying  that  they 
would  neither  eat  nor  drink,  till  they  had  killed  him,' — sent  off  by  night  to 
Felix,  and  left  by  him  in  bonds,  after  having  been  kept  two  years  in  cus- 
tody,— examined  before  Agrippa  under  Festus,  and  despatched  to  Rome, 
which  he  reached  at  last,  after  perilous  shipwreck.  And  then,  instead  of 
seeing  them  at  Rome  in  passing,  God's  Providence  ordained  that,  though 
still  detained  as  a  prisoner,  he  '  dwelt  two  whole  years  in  his  own  hired 
house,  and  received  all  that  came  in  unto  him,  preaching  the  Kingdom  of 


CHAP.  XVI.  1 — 16.  237 

God,  and  teaching  those  things  which  concern  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with 
all  confidence,  no  man  forbidding  him.' 

CHAP.  XYI.    1—16. 

(1)  Now  I  commend  to  you  Phoebe  our  sister,  wlio 
is  a  servant  of  the  Church  at  Cenchreas  ;  (2)  so  that 
you  may  receive  her  in  the  Lord  in  a  manner  worthy 
of  the  saintSj  and  may  assist  her  in  whatever  manner 
she  may  need  you ;  for,  in  fact,  she  shewed  herself  a 
succourer  of  many,  and  of  me  myself.  (3)  Salute  Prisca 
and  ilquila,  my  fellow- workers  in  Christ  Jesus, —  (4) 
{persons,  who  laid  down  their  own  neck  on  behalf  of  my 
life,  whom  not  only  I  thank,  but  also  all  the  Churches 
of  the  Gentiles, — )  (5)  and  the  church  in  their  house. 
Salute  Epenetus,  my  beloved,  who  is  the  first-fruits  of 
Achaia  unto  Christ.  (6)  Salute  Mary,  one  who  laboured 
much  upon  us.  (7)  Salute  Andronicus  and  Junias,  my 
kinsmen  and  fellow-prisoners,  persons,  who  were  of  note 
among  the  Apostles,  who  in  fact  were  in  Christ  before 
me.  (8)  Salute  Amplias,  my  beloved  in  the  Lord. 
(9)  Salute  Urbanus,  my  fellow-worker  in  Christ,  and 
Stachys  my  beloved.  (10)  Salute  Apelles,  the  approved 
in  Christ.     Salute  those  of  the  household  of  Aristobulus. 

(11)  Salute  Herodion,  my  kinsman.  Salute  those  of 
the   household   of   Narcissus,  who   are   in    the   Lord. 

(12)  Salute  Tryphoena  and  Tryphosa,  who  labour  in 
the  Lord.  Salute  Persis  the  beloved,  one  who  laboured 
much  in  the  Lord.  (13)  Salute  Eufus,  the  chosen  in 
the  Lord,  and  his  mother  and  mine.  (14)  Salute 
Asyncritus,  Phlegon,  Hermas,  Patrobas,  Hermes,  and 
the  brethren  with  them.  (15)  Salute  Philologus  and 
Julia,  Nereus  and  his  sister,  and  Olympas,  and  all  the 


238  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

saints  with  them.     (16)  Salute  one  another  with  a  holy 
kiss.     All  the  churches  of  Christ  salute  you. 

NOTES. 

381.  V.  1.  servant.  It  is  probable  that  Phoebe  was  a  'deaconess'  of 
the  Church,  at  Cenchrese,  the  port  of  Corinth,  about  nine  miles  from  it. 
Pliny,  in  his  letter  to  Trajan,  expressly  mentions  that  he  had  put  two 
maid-servants  to  the  torture,  who  '  were  called  Ministrae,'  that  is,  dea- 
conesses. In  Greece  and  the  East,  where  women  were  kept  in  much  great- 
er seclusion  than  at  Rome,  such  persons  would  be  needed  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  female  converts,  as  well  as  for  charitable  services  to  the  sick  and 
needy.  No  doubt  Phoebe  took  this  letter  to  Rome,  and  her  going  was  the 
immediate  occasion  of  the  Apostle's  writing  it.  From  the  use  of  two  legal 
terms  in  the  Greek  of  this  passage,  translated  '  assist '  and  '  succourer,'  it  is 
conjectured  that  her  '  business '  was  connected  with  some  trial  at  law. 

382.  V.  2.  and  of  me  myself.  Possibly  Phoebe  had  lodged  the  Apostle, 
when  he  came  to  Cenchreae,  for  embarkation,  being  about  to  '  sail  into  Syria, 
with  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  having  shorn  his  head  in  CenchrCce.'  Acts 
xviii.  18. 

383.  V.  3.  Priscilla  is  the  diminutive  of  Prisca.  Priscilla  and  Aquila 
had  now  returned  to  Rome  (Introd.  p.  23),  and  would  heartily  welcome 
this  letter  from  their  beloved  teacher  and  friend,  and,  doubtless,  would 
take  care  that  it  should  be  circulated,  as  largely  as  possible,  among  their 
acquaintances  at  Rome.  They  had  been  '  fellow-workers '  with  him  at  Cor- 
inth and  Ephesus,  and  had  probably  incurred  danger  for  him  in  the  vio- 
lent tumult  at  Ephesus,  of  which  he  speaks  so  feelingly  in  1  Cor.  xv.  32 
and  2  Cor.  i.  8.  It  is  noticeable  that  the  xvife  is  mentioned  first,  here  and 
elsewhere,  as  if  she  were  the  most  prominent  and  zealous  of  the  two,  or,  it 
may  be,  the  most  able  and  intelligent.  She  took  part,  at  any  rate,  in  the 
teaching  of  Apollos. 

384.  V.  4.  all  the  churches  of  the  Gentiles  "  had  reason  to  be  thankful 
to  them,  for  having  rescued  the  '  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles '  from  danger." 
Alford. 

385.  V.  5.  the  church  in  their  house,  either  the  members  of  their  fam- 
ily being  all  Christians,  or  the  believers  being  accustomed  to  meet  for  wor- 
ship and  Christian  converse  in  their  house.  Alford  quotes  the  answer  of 
Justin  Martyr  to  the  question  of  the  preefect  Rusticus,  '  Where  do  you  as- 
semble ? '  His  reply  was,  '  Where  each  one  can  and  will.  You  believe, 
no  doubt,  that  we  all  meet  together  in  one  place.  But  it  is  not  so ;  for  the 
God  of  the  Chinstiaus  is  not  shut  up  in  a  room ;  but,  being  invisible,  He 


CHAP.  XVI.  1 — 16.  239 

fills  both  heaven  and  earth,  and  is  honoured  everywhere  by  the  faithful. 
Justin  adds  that,  when  he  came  to  Rome,  he  was  accustomed  to  dwell  in 
one  particular  spot,  and  that  those  Christians,  who  were  instructed  by  him, 
and  wished  to  hear  his  discourse,  used  to  meet  at  his  house.  Doubtless, 
Aquila  and  Priscilla  carried  on  still  at  Rome  the  business  of  instruction,  in 
which  they  had  been  engaged  at  Corinth  and  Ephesus. 

386.  V.  5.  In  1  Cor.  xvi.  15,  St.  Paul  speaks  of  the  'house  of  Stepha- 
nas,' as  the  first-fruits  of  Achaia.  Probably  Epenetus  was  one  of  this 
house.     Some  MSS.  read  Asia  for  Achaia. 

387.  V.  6.  None  of  the  persons  whose  names  are  here  mentioned,  from 
verse  5  to  verse  15,  twenty-five  in  number,  besides  others  who  are  referred 
to,  are  named  anywhere  else  in  the  New  Testament.  Of  these,  Mary  ap- 
pears to  have  shown  the  Apostle  some  personal  kindness ;  Andronicus  and 
Junias  seem  to  have  been  somewhere  in  bonds  with  him,  who  was  '  in  pris- 
ons oft;'  Urbanus  had  'worked  with'  him;  Persis,  'the  beloved,  who  la- 
boured much  in  the  Lord,'  seems  also  to  have  come  at  some  time  under  the 
Apostle's  personal  cognisance ;  and  Rufus  and  his  mother  were  probably 
known  to  the  Apostle.  Omitting  these  seven,  and  Aristobulus  and  Narcis- 
sus, (note  389,)  there  will  remain  sixteen  persons  named,  and  others  refer- 
red to,  whom  St.  Paul  salutes,  but  who  may  or  may  not  have  been  known 
to  him  in  person,  but  of  whom  he  may  have  heard  from  Aquila  and  Pris- 
cilla, and  others,     (See  Introd.  p.  30.) 

388.  V.  7.  Junias,  the  name  of  a  man,  not  Junia :  kinsmen,  that  is, 
Jews,  like  himself  (ix.  3,  xvi.  11,  21). 

389.  V.  7.  loho  were  of  note  among  the  Apostles,  that  is,  distinguished 
as  Apostles.  So  says  Chrysostom,  '  To  be  Apostles  is  a  great  thing ;  but 
to  be  also  among  those  distinguished,  consider  how  great  is  the  praise ! ' 
For  Paul  to  speak  of  any  persons  as  "  celebrated  among  the  Apostles,"  that 
is,  among  the  Twelve,  would  imply  that  he  had  more  frequent  intercourse 
with  the  Twelve  than  we  know  he  had.'  Alford.  '  Andronicus  and  Ju- 
nias may  have  been  of  the  number  of  those  mentioned  in  Acts  viii.  4  ;  xi. 
19 — 21,  who  were  not  unworthy  to  be  classed  with  Barnabas  and  Paul, 
Acts  xiv.  4,  14.'     Peile. 

390.  V.  7.  who  ivere  in  Christ  before  me,  who  were  Christian  believers 
before  I  was. 

391.  V.  10.  It  would  seem  that  Aristobulus  and  Narcissus  (v.  11)  were 
not  themselves  believers,  though  some  of  their  people  were.  Does  not  thia 
again  intimate  that  St.  Paul  must  have  heard  of  these,  without  having 
known  them  personally  ?  Aristobulus  and  Narcissus  appear,  both  of  them, 
to  have  been  men  of  distinction,  having  large  households.  And,  in  fact, 
Aristobulus  was,  probably,  the  great-grandson  of  Herod  the  Great,  mention- 


240  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS. 

ed  by  Josephus  and  Tacitus,  to  whom  Nero,  in  a.d.  55,  gave  the  govern- 
ment of  Lesser  Armenia.  He  had  very  likely  lived  previously  at  Rome, 
and  may  still  have  kept  up  an  establishment  there,  or,  perhaps,  had  not  yet 
gone  to  his  government.  '  Narcissus  was  not  the  weU-known  favourite  of 
Claudius,  who  was  put  to  death  by  Nero,  a.d.  54,  before  this  epistle  was 
written,  but  another  person  of  the  same  name,  who  was  a  favourite  of 
Nero's,  and  put  to  death  by  Galba.'     Conyheare  and  Howson. 

392.  V.  13.  '  St.  Mark  mentions  Sunon  of  Cyrene,  as  the  "  father  of 
Alexander  and  Rufus."  The  latter,  therefore,  was  a  Christian,  well  known 
to  those  for  whom  St.  Mark  wrote,  and  probably  is  the  same  here  mention- 
ed. It  is  gratifying  to  think  that  she,  whom  St.  Paul  mentions  here  with 
such  respectful  affection,  was  the  wife  of  that  Simon,  who  bore  our  Sa- 
viour's Cross.'     Conyheare  and  Howson. 

393.  V.  14.  Hernias^  not  the  author  of  the  '  Shepherd,'  who  lived  about 
A.D.  150. 

394.  V.  12.  St.  Paul  appears  to  have  heard  of  the  two  women,  Try- 
phoena  and  Tryphosa,  as  being  active  in  labours  of  instruction  or  of  mercy 
at  Rome.  Persis  he  had,  probably,  met  with  on  some  former  occasion,  as 
is  indicated  by  his  saying  that  she  '  laboured  much,'  in  the  past  tense. 

395.  V.  16.  Salute  one  another  with  a  holy  kiss.  In  ancient  times,  as 
now  in  many  foreign  countries,  a  kiss  was  the  usual  salutation  between 
friends,  2  Sam.  xx.  9 ;  Luke  viii.  45.  This  custom  the  Christians  adopted, 
and  it  was  regularly  practised  in  their  religious  assemblies,  as  a  sign  of  the 
close  friendship  and  brotherly  kindness,  which  bound  them  all  as  one  body 
together.  So  says  Justin  Martyr.  '  Prayers  being  ended,  we  salute  one 
another  with  a  kiss,  and  then  the  bread  and  the  cup  is  brought  to  the  presi- 
dent, &c.'  But,  on  those  occasions,  the  men  and  women,  sitting  separately, 
after  the  custom  of  the  synagogue,  saluted  only  those  of  their  own  sex.  So 
we  find  it  in  the  Apost.  Constit.  ii.  5Y,  '  On  the  other  side,  let  the  laity  sit, 
with  all  silence,  and  good  order ;  and  the  women,  let  them  also  sit  sep- 
arately, keeping  silence Then  let  the  men  salute  one  another,  and 

the  women  one  another,  with  the  kiss  in  the  Lord.' 

396.  V.  16.  All  the  churches  of  Christ  salute  you.  From  his  relations 
to  them,  St.  Paul  can  pledge  '  all  the  churches '  to  this,  without,  of  course, 
communicating  with  them. 

CHAP.  XYI.    17—27. 

(17)    But  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  to  mark  those 
who  cause  divisions  and  scandals,  contrary  to  the  doc- 


CHAP.  XVI.  IT — 27.  241 

trine  which  you  have  learned  ;  and  turn  away  from 
them.  (18)  For  such  do  not  serve  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  but  their  own  belly ;  and,  through  fair  speak- 
ing and  glosing,  they  deceive  outright  the  hearts  of  the 
simple.  (19)  For  your  obedience  came  abroad  to  all. 
I  rejoice,  therefore,  at  the  state  of  things  among  you. 
But  I  would  have  you  to  be  wise,  indeed,  with  respect 
to  what  is  good,  but  pure  with  respect  to  what  is  evil. 
(20)  But  the  God  of  Peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under 
your  feet  quickly.  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
be  with  you. 

(21)  There  salute  you  Timothy,  my  fellow-worker, 
and  Lucius,  and  Jason,  and  Sosipater,  my  kinsmen. 

(22)  I  Tertius,  who  wrote  this  epistle,  salute  you  in 
the  Lord. 

(23)  Gains,  mine  host,  and  of  the  whole  church, 
saluteth  you.  Erastus,  the  chamberlain  of  the  city, 
saluteth  you,  and  Quartus,  the  brother. 

(24)  The.  grace  of  out  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with 
you  all.     Amen. 

(25)  Now  to  Him,  that  is  able  to  establish  you, 
according  to  my  gospel  and  the  preaching  of  Jesus 
Christ,  according  to  the  revelation  of  the  mystery, 
which    has   been    kept    secret    in    the   eternal    ages, 

(26)  but  was  manifested  now,  and  by  prophetical 
Scriptures,  according  to  the  command  of  the  Eternal 
God,  made  known  to  all  nations,  for  obedience  of  faith, 

(27)  to  God  only  wise,  through  Jesus  Christ,  be  the 
glory  for  ever  and  ever.    Amen. 

NOTES. 

397.   V.   17.    The   Apostle   does  not  apparently  refer  to  Judaizing 
teachers  expressly,  nor  to  any  particular  kind  of  false  doctrine.      But, 
11 


24:2  EPISTLE   TO   THE   KOMANS. 

knowing  well  that  evil  would  come  in  some  form  or  other,  he  gives  them 
this  caution  beforehand,  to  beware  of  sordid,  self-seeking,  self-exalting 
men  who  would  form  parties,  and  draw  them  aside  from  the  simplicity 
that  is  in  Christ,  and  the  life  which  is  according  to  godUness.  He  is  now 
writino-   from   Corinth,  where    such  teachers  as   these  had   done   much 

mischief. 

398.  V.  18.  their  own  helly^  their  own  low  ends,  interested  motives, 
love  of  gain,  sensual  appetites,  &c.,  of  such  men,  '  whose  god  is  their  belly, 
who  glory  in  their  shame,  who  mind  earthly  things.'' 

399.  V.  19.  'I  say  this,  because  I  hear  the  best  possible  report  of  you 
now ;  your  obedience  to  the  faith  is  spoken  of  throughout  the  world  (i.  8). 
But  I  wish  you  to  be  on  your  guard,  to  be  wise  and  watchful  for  good,  as 
well  as  simple  and  innocent,  (as  you  are,)  in  respect  of  evil.'  The  Apostle's 
Christian  courtesy  and  great  judgment  are  manifest  in  every  line. 

400.  V.  20.  And,  if  you  do  this,  marking  such  persons  as  seek  to  cause 
divisions,  and  turning  away  from  them,  depend  upon  it,  the  God  of  Peace 
will  bless  you,  and  soon  put  down  the  Enemy,  the  Evil  One,  that  is  sowing 
tares  among  the  wheat  of  his  field. 

401.  V,  20.  the  grace.,  &c.  It  would  seem  that  the  Apostle  meant  to 
finish  his  letter  at  this  point,  as  far  as  his  own  remarks  are  concerned,  and 
so  inserted  the  usual  blessing  here.  He  goes  on,  however,  to  send  a  list 
of  salutations  from  those  with  him,  closing  again  with  the  benediction. 
And  then  he  cannot  refrain  from  adding  a  few  more  glowing  words  at  the 
end,  ascribing  glory  to  God  Most  High,  for  His  Blessed  Gospel. 

402.  V.  21.  Timothy  and  Sopater  (Sosipater)  of  Berea,  are  mentioned 
(Acts  XX.  4)  as  among  those  who  '  went  before '  St.  Paul,  into  Asia,  from 
Corinth,  at  the  end  of  his  three  months'  stay  in  Greece,  during  which 
he  wrote  this  letter  to  the  Romans.  We  read  of  Jason,  as  the  host 
of  Paul  and  Silas,  at  Thessalonica,  in  Acts  xvii.  5 — 9.  Liicius  is  most 
probably  St.  Luke,  the  writer  of  the  Acts.  For  it  is  noteworthy  that  the 
narrative  in  the  Acts  begins  to  run  in  the  first  person,  in  the  very  passage 
above  referred  to,  immediately  after  the  mention  of  the  three  months'  stay 
in  Greece.     '  These  going  before  tarried  for  us  at  Troas.' 

403.  V.  22.  Nothing  is  known  about  this  '  brother  Tertius,'  who  was 
the  scribe  or  amanuensis  of  St.  Paul,  on  this  occasion.  His  name  seems 
to  imply  that  he  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  as,  no  doubt,  was  also  the  '  brother 
Quartus.' 

St.  Paul  usually  employed  such  a  scribe,  (see  1  Cor.  xvi.  21,  Col.  iv. 
18,  2  Thess.  iii.  18).  But  he  sometimes  wrote  with  his  own  hand.  Gal.  vi. 
11.  It  is  worth  remembering  that  so  long  an  epistle  as  that  to  the  Romans 
could  not  have  been  written  at  one  sitting,  and  probably  required  several. 


CHAP.  XVI.  17—27.  243 

This  will  account  for  his  not  taking  up  the  thread  of  the  argument,  in  some 
places,  exactly  as  he  left  it. 

404.  V.  23.  This  Gaius  is  probably  the  same  mentioned  in  1  Cor.  i.  14, 
as  having  been  baptised  by  St.  Paul,  at  Corinth.  He  was,  no  doubt, 
resident  there,  and  so  able  to  be  the  '  host  of  St.  Paul  and  the  whole  Church^ 
By  the  last  expression  it  is,  perhaps,  meant  that  the  believers  at  Corinth 
met  at  his  house  for  worship,  or  else  that  his  hospitality  to  Christians  com- 
ing from  abroad  was  universal. 

There  was  another  Gaius,  of  Derbe,  with  St.  Paul  at  Corinth,  at  this 
very  time,  (Acts  xx.  4,)  and  in  the  same  verse  is  named  another  companion 
of  St.  Paul,  Aristarchus.  In  Acts  xix.  29  Gaius  and  Aristarchus  are  men- 
tioned as  •  men  of  Macedonia^  Paul's  companions  in  travel.'  It  seems  as 
if  this  Gaius  of  Derbe  must  be  the  same  man  with  the  man  of  Macedonia. 
However  the  name  Gaius  (Caius)  was  as  common  then  as  John  is  now. 

405.  V.  14.  the  city^  that  is,  Corinth.  Erastus  is  named  as  one  that 
'ministered'  to  St.  Paul,  in  Acts  xix.  22,  with  Timothy.  They  were  then 
at  Ephesus,  and  were  sent  to  prepare  the  way  for  him  in  Macedonia,  and 
thence,  no  doubt,  went  on  into  Achaia,  where  Erastus  would  be  again  at 
home.  Hence,  while  in  Acts  xx.  4,  we  read  of  Timothy  accompanying  St. 
Paul  into  Asia,  Erastus  is  no  longer  with  him.  So  in  2  Tim.  iv.  20,  St. 
Paul  writes  that  '  Erastus  abode  at  Corinth.' 

406.  V.  25.  It  would  seem  from  2  Thess.  iii.  lY,  that  St.  Paul  always 
wrote  with  his  own  hand  the  concluding  benediction,  as  a  token  that  the 
epistle  was  genuine,  and  from  liimself.  Here,  however,  before  dropping 
the  pen,  after  writing  a  second  time  the  doxology,  he  appears  to  have  gone 
on  to  add  this  grand  ascription  of  praise. 

407.  V.  25.  my  gospel,  that  is,  the  glad  tidings  which  I  have  to  carry : 
so  in  ii.  16. 

408.  V.  25.  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ ,  that  is,  the  preaching  about 
Jesus  Christ,  the  message  about  Him,  which,  as  a  herald,  I  am  commis- 
sioned to  deliver  to  the  world. 

409.  V.  26.  St.  Paul  here  throws  in  a  last  word,  reminding  his  readers 
once  more  of  what  he  has  told  them  all  along,  namely,  that  the  Gospel, 
which  he  had  to  preach,  was  no  new  message,  but  only  a  more  clear  and 
full  declaration  of  that  '  righteousness  of  God,'  which  He,  as  a  Faithful 
Creator,  had  prepared  for  His  creatures,  in  His  infinite  counsels,  before  the 
foundations  of  the  world  were  laid, — a  revelation  of  that  '  mystery  of  god- 
liness '  in  Christ  Jesus,  by  which  that  righteousness  is  bestowed  by  the 
grace  of  God  upon  mankind, — a  mystery  which  had  been  hidden  hitherto, 
but  was  now  made  known,  by  God's  own  command,  for  obedience  of  faith, 
to  all  the  nations  upon  earth,  in  full  accordance  with  the  prophetical 


244:  EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMAiq^S. 

Scriptures  of  the  Jews  (i.  2),  nay,  rather,  hy  or  through,  them,  through 
their  express  intimations  and  injunctions,  in  which  God's  will  is  made 
known  in  this  respect,  as  the  Apostle  has  abundantly  shown  in  the  course 
of  the  epistle. 

410.   The  following  dates  are  adopted  mainly  from  Conybeare  and 
Howson's  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 

A.D.  BIOGRAPHY  OP  ST.  PAUL.  CONTEMPOKARY  EVENTS. 

36.  St.  Paul's  Conversion. 

37.  At  Damascus.  Death  of  Tiberius,  and  acces- 

sion of  Caligula. 

38.  Flight  from  Damascus  to  Jerusalem,  thence  to  Tarsus. 

39.  St.  Paul  preaches  in  Syria  and  Cilicia, 

40.  making     Tarsus     his     head-quarters, 

41.  and  probably  undergoes  most  of  the  Death  of  Caligula,  and  ac- 

42.  sufferings  in  2  Cor.  xi.  24 — 26,  viz.  cession  of  Claudius. 

43.  two  Koman  and  five  Jewish  scourg-  Judaea  and  Samaria  given 
ings,  and  two  shipwrecks.  to  Herod  Agrippa  I. 

44.  He  is  brought  to  Antioch,  (Acts  xi.  26.)     Deaih  of  Herod  Agrippa  I, 

45.  He  goes  to  Jerusalem  with  Barnabas. 
46  and  47.     At  Antioch. 

48  and  49.     His  First  Missionary  Journey  from  Antioch  to  Cyprus,  An- 
tioch (in  Pisidia),  Iconium,  Lystra,  Derbe,  and  back  to  Antioch. 

50.  St.  Paul  and  Barnabas  attend  the  Council  at  Jerusalem. 

51.  His  Second  Journey  from  Antioch  to  Cilicia,  Lycaonia,  Galatia. 

52.  Troas,    Philippi,    Thessalonica,   Bercea,     Claudius  expels  the  Jews 

Athens,    Corinth,    finds  Aquila    and  from  Eome. 
PrisciUa ;  writes  I.  Thess. 

53.  At  Corinth  ;  writes  II.  Thess.  Felix  procurator  of  Judaea. 

54.  Leaves  Corinth  for  Ephesus,  where  he  Death  of  Claudius,  and  ac- 

leaves  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  and  goes  cession  of  Nero. 

on  to  Jerusalem,  thence  to  Antioch. 
His  Third  Journey.     He  reaches  Ephesus. 

55.  and  56.     At  Ephesus,  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla. 

57.  {Spring.)  Still  at  Ephesus,  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla ;  writes  I.  Cor. 
{Summer.)  Macedonia ;  writes  II.  Cor. ;  Aquila  and  Priscilla  at  Rome. 
( Winter.)     To  Corinth.     Writes  Gal. 

58.  {Spring.)    "Writes  Rom. ;  from  Corinth,  by  Philippi  and  Miletus,  to 

Jerusalem.     Arrested  and  sent  to  Caesaraea. 
69.     At  Caesar ea. 

60.  {A^ltumn.)  Sent  to  Rome  by  Festus.  Felix  is  recalled,  and  suc- 
( Winter.)    Shipwrecked  at  Malta.  ceeded  by  Festus. 

61.  (Spring.)    Arrives  at  Rome. 

62.  At  Rome,  in  his  own  hired  house  ;  writes  Philem.,  Col.,  Eph.,  Phil. 

63.  Is  freed,  goes  to  Macedonia  (Phil.  ii.  24)  and  Asia  Minor,  (Philem.  22.) 

64.  In  Spain.  Fire  of  Rome  :  Persecution. 

65.  In  Spain.  Florus  Procurator  of  Judaea. 

66.  From  (?)  Spain  to  Asia  (1  Tim.  i.  8),        Jewish  War  begins. 

67.  {Summer.)    Writes  I.  Tim.,  from  Macedonia. 


NOTE  ON  262.  245 

A.D.  BIOGRAPHY  OF  ST.  PAUL.  CONTEMPORARY  EYENTS. 

{Aictximn.)    Writes  Tit.,  from  Ephesus. 
(  Winter.)     At  Nicopolis. 
68.     {Spring.)     In  prison  at  Rome  ;  Writes  II.  Tim. 

{Summer.)    Executed  -May  or  June.        Death  of  Nero  in  June. 

N.B.     The  date  of  the  year  of  our  Lord  is  considered  to  represent  ap- 
proximately the  age  of  the  Apostle. 


APPENDIX.    Note  on  262. 

And  thus  also  a  reply  may  be  given  to  those,  who  say  that  by  the  Atha- 
nasian  Creed,  which  we  read  from  time  to  time  in  the  Church  Service,  we 
are  shut  up  into  a  confession  that  we  believe  in  the  ordinary  doctrine  of 
Endless  Punishments. 

I  answer,  in  the  first  place,  that  laymen  are  not  bound  at  all  by  the  dog- 
mas laid  down  in  this  Creed,  not  even  when  they  take  their  part  in  singing 
or  saying  it.  They  do  not  here  say,  as  they  do  in  repeating  the  other  two 
Creeds,  or  as  they  do  in  repeating  the  Apostles'  Creed  in  their  Baptism, 
answering  by  themselves  or  their  god-parents,  each  one  personally  for  him- 
self, '  I  believe  in  all  the  statements  of  this  Creed.'  They  do  but  repeat, 
at  the  direction  of  their  Church,  an  ancient  form  of  words,  which  goes, 
indeed,  by  the  name  of  Athanasius,  but  which  is  wellknown  not  to  have 
been  composed  by  him,  and  to  have  only  come  into  use  in  the  Church  in 
the  fifth  century,  and  in  England  in  the  ninth.  When,  in  reading  the 
alternate  verse  of  a  Psalm,  a  layman  comes  upon  the  words,  in  which  David 
or  any  other  fellow-man,  under  the  Old  Dispensation,  in  direct  contradic- 
tion to  the  spirit  of  the  New,  curses,  instead  of  '  blessing,'  '  those  who  curse 
him,'  and  imprecates  evil,  instead  of  '  praying  for  mercy,'  on  the  heads  of 
*  those,  who  despitefully  use  him,  and  persecute  him,' — as  when  he  cries, 
'  Let  Satan  stand  at  his  right  hand,  and  let  his  prayer  be  turned  into  sin  ; 
let  his  children  be  fatherless,  and  his  wife  a  widow  ;  let  there  be  no  man  to 
pity  him,  or  to  have  compassion  on  his  fatherless  children  ;  let  the  wicked- 
ness of  his  fathers  be  had  in  remembrance  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  and  let 
not  the  sin  of  his  mother  be  done  away ; '  or  when,  in  another  place,  he 
says,  '  The  righteous  shall  rejoice  when  he  seeth  the  vengeance  ;  he  shall 
wash  his  footsteps  in  the  blood  of  the  ungodly ; ' — and  he  repeats  these 
words,  as  appointed  by  the  Church  in  the  Daily  Service  ; — he  does  not  con- 
sider that  he  himself  is  committed  to  such  language  ;  he  merely  acts  as  an 
obedient  son  of  the  Church  to  which  he  belongs ;  and  he  concludes  that 
she  must  have  some  good  reason  for  prescribing  the  reading  of  such  words, 
among  the  rest,  in  her  Services.  In  short,  he  feels  no  scruple  of  conscience, 
preventing  him  from  joining  in  the  Service  here,  because  he  holds  himself 
at  liberty  to  go  along  with  the  words  he  utters,  just  as  far  as  his  sense  of 
truth,  and  righteousness,  and  love,  allows,  and  no  further. 

Just  so  may  every  layman  do  with  regard  to  the  Athanasian  Creed.  To 
the  Apostles'  Creed  lie  is  bound  by  his  Baptism,  To  the  Athanasian  Creed 
his  conscience  is  in  no  way  bound.  He  does  not  profess  his  personal  ad- 
herence to  it ;  he  does  not  say,  with  respect  to  that  Creed,  '  I  believe.'  He 
simply  joins,  as  above,  in  obedience  to  the  directions  of  his  Church,  in  read- 


246  NOTE  ON  262. 

ing  a  certain  ancient  form,  which  she  pronounces  to  be  true  and  scriptural, 
which  she  desires  her  children  to  hear  from  time  to  time,  and  requires  to  be 
sung  or  said  in  the  Service.  And  he  is  at  liberty  to  let  his  hearty  assent 
go  with  the  words,  as  far  as  his  conscience  allows  him,  and  no  further. 

It  is  otherwise  with  a  clergyman.  He  is  bound  by  the  Articles,  which 
he  subscribes  at  ordination,  to  hold  that  this  Creed,  as  well  as  the  other 
two,  '  ought  thoroughly  to  be  received  and  believed,  for  it  may  be  proved 
by  most  certain  warrants  of  Holy  Scripture.'  He  must  be  able,  therefore, 
to  give  an  account  of  the  faith  which  he  thus  professes.  It  is,  indeed,  to 
be  regretted  that  this  Creed,  by  whomsoever  written,  should  be  so  worded, 
as  to  present  any  stumblingblock  to  a  free  and  hearty  reception  of  it,  on 
the  part  of  either  clergyman  or  layman — that  it  should  be  at  all  liable  to 
be  misunderstood — that  any  of  its  words  should  require  such  explanation, 
before  they  can  be  assented  to,  as  the  simple  and  unlearned  cannot  easily 
supply.  I  allude,  of  course,  mainly,  to  what  are  commonly  called  the 
'  damnatory  clauses,'  at  the  beginning,  middle,  and  end.  There  are,  in- 
deed, other  phrases  in  it,  employed  in  speaking  of  the  high  mysteries  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  which  few  ordinary  readers  could  be  expected  fully  to 
understand.  But  these  do  not  present  the  great  difficulty  to  a  hearty  re- 
ception of  it.  That  arises  in  most  minds  from  the  damnatoi*y  clauses — from 
an  unwillingness  to  pass  judgment  upon  others  for  holding  views  on  certain 
matters  of  religion,  which  may  differ  from  our  own,  and  which  they  may 
hold  conscientiously,  and  with  as  earnest  and  humble  a  desire  to  please  God 
in  so  doing,  as  we  may  have  ourselves  in  maintaining  our  own  Creed,  and 
whose  lives  may  possibly,  for  consistency,  devotedness,  and  purity,  con- 
demn our  own — and  from  a  sense  of  the  absolute  wickedness  of  undertak- 
ing to  pass  such  a  judgment. 

These  clauses  in  the  Creed  are,  indeed,  much  to  be  deplored.  They 
were  the  offspring  of  a  stormy  and  violent  age,  when  good  men,  not  freed 
from  human  infirmities,  were  too  apt  to  usurp  the  place  of  the  Great  Judge, 
and  to  pass  anathemas  on  one  another.  Yet  even  this  is  better  than  a  cold, 
sensual  indifference,  which  has  no  heart  or  life,  which  is  equally  uncon- 
cerned about  all  religious  matters,  about  all  those  things  of  deep,  eternal 
interest,  which  belong  to  a  living  man,  and  contents  itself,  perhaps,  by  ask- 
ing, with  a  sneer,  in  the  words  of  Pilate  of  old,  '  What  is  Truth  ? ' 

But  let  us  see  what  these  damnatory  clauses  really  amount  to.  The 
middle  one  is  this,  '  He,  therefore,  that  will  be  saved,  must  thus  think  of  the 
Trinity.'  But  here  our  own  English  Version  mistranslates  the  Latin  orig- 
inal, which  merely  says,  '  He,  therefore,  who  wishes  to  be  saved,  let  him 
thus  think  of  the  Trinity.'  This  is  the  advice  which  the  Church  gives  to 
each  enquirer — to  each  one  who  comes  sincerely  anxious  to  know  the  Liv- 
ing Truth,  which  she  has  to  teach  him.  '  Whoever  wishes  to  be  saved,'  or 
rather,  to  be  safe,  to  be  in  a  state  of  salvation,  '  it  is  above  all  things  neces- 
sary that  he  should  hold  the  Catholick  Faith.'  And  then  follows  the  sen- 
tence, so  terrible  to  many,  '  Which  except  every  one  do  keep  whole  and 
undefiled,  without  doubt  he  shall  perish  everlastingly,'  and  this  supported 
by  the  closing  words  of  the  Creed,  '  This  is  the  Catholick  Faith,  which  ex- 
cept a  man  believe  faithfully,  he  cannot  be  saved,'  or  rather,  as  before,  he 
cannot  be  safe,  he  cannot  be  in  a  state  of  salvation.  These  words,  as  they 
are  generally  understood,  are  supposed  to  imply  the  eternal  damnation  of 
all,  who  do  not  believe  in  the  doctrines  laid  down  in  the  Creed,  whether 


NOTE  ON  262.  247 

they  have  rightly  and  fully  understood  them  or  not,  whether  even  they 
have  ever  heard  them  or  not. 

Yet,  certainly,  the  writer  of  the  Creed  could  never  have  meant  this : 
for  he  must  have  excepted  baptised  infants,  and  young  children,  from  so 
sweeping  a  condemnation.  He  must,  surely,  also  have  excepted  the  weak 
~in  intellect  and  the  insane  ;  and,  if  so,  by  parity  of  reasoning,  he  must  have 
excepted  the  untaught  and  ignorant, — ignorant  by  no  fault  of  their  own, — 
and  as  helpless  in  things  divine  as  children ;  he  must  have  excepted  the 
heathen,  who  have  never  heard  at  all  the  Message  of  Life.  And,  looking 
more  closely  at  the  Creed,  we  find  in  each  of  these  two  clauses  a  saving 
word  to  this  effect.  If  a  man  is  required  to  '  keep '  the  CathoUc  Faith,  he 
must  first  have  received  it, — not  with  his  ears  only,  but  with  his  inner 
being,  with  his  head  and  his  heart.  The  truth  must  have  been  brought 
home  to  him,  with  more  or  less  of  clearness  and  fulness ;  his  conscience 
must  have  felt  the  power  of  it,  more  or  less  forcibly,  as  the  message  of 
God  to  his  soul.  Now,  in  proportion  to  what  he  has  thus  received,  he  is 
bound  to  embrace  it,  to  keep  it  '  whole  and  undefiled '  with  falsehood,  im- 
purity, and  sin,  with  '  whatsoever  loveth  and  maketh  a  lie  ; '  he  is  bound  to 
'  believe  it  faithfully,^  as  the  last  clause  of  the  Creed  says,  that  is,  with  an 
honest  and  sincere  obedience  to  it,  as  far  as  he  has  received  it.  If  he  does 
not,  if  he  lives  unfaithfully,  if  he  does  not  walk  in  the  light,  and  bring  his 
daily  doings  to  the  light,  which  has  thus  been  vouchsafed  to  him,  and 
think,  and  speak,  and  act,  as  a  servant  of  the  light, — if  he  '  loves  the  dark- 
ness rather  than  the  light,  because  his  deeds  are  evil,' — that  man  does  not 
need  the  Bible,  or  the  Athanasian  Ci'eed,  to  tell  him  that  he  is  condemned. 
He  is  condemned  already.  His  own  heart  will  judge  him,  and  pronounce 
him  to  be  a  guilty  creature.  He  will  begin  to  feci  the  gnawing  of  the  ITn- 
dying  Worm,  the  scorching  of  the  Eternal  Fire,  within  him.  And  he  will 
know  in  himself  that  this  woe  will  follow  him  all  his  life  through,  while  he 
clings  to  the  sin  which  is  destroying  him,  and  in  the  life  to  come, — that  in. 
the  other  world  also  God's  righteous  judgment  will  rest  upon  him — that  he 
will  '  perish  everlastingly.'  He  will  perish — not  temporarily — suffering 
merely,  with  respect  to  things  of  time  and  sense,  that  wretchedness  of  out- 
ward condition,  which  sometimes  follows  sin  in  this  life,  by  which  some 
perish  miserably  before  our  eyes,  but  which  ends  at  last  with  this  body  of 
corruption,  and  may  even  be  relieved  while  it  lasts,  or,  perhaps,  may  be 
escaped  altogether.  But  he  will  perish  '  everlastingly,'  with  respect  to 
things  eternal  and  spiritual,  those  things  that  are  real  and  permanent,  and 
concern  his  true  being,  which  was  made  for  a  higher  world  than  this  ;  he 
will  suffer  then,  as  he  even  now  suffers,  that  inward  misery,  of  which  the 
worst  external  woe  of  this  life  is  but  a  figure — which  may  be  coupled  in 
this  world  with  outward  woe  or  with  outward  prosperity,  but,  in  the  world 
to  come,  will  be  mitigated  by  no  relief,  as  it  may  be  here  ;  he  will  then  not 
be  able,  as  he  may  be  now,  to  ignore,  as  it  were,  the  pangs  of  a  guilty  con- 
science, and  brave  the  terrors  of  God's  Displeasure.  He  will  then  be  all 
alone  with  God,  and  with  the  awful  judgment,  which  a  Father's  Anger  and 
a  Father's  Love  has  appointed  for  him.  There  will  he  perish  everlastingly 
— and  will  lie  perishing,  until  that  Father  sees  the  work  is  done.  In  the 
cold  and  gloom  of  night  he  will  lie,  in  the  outer  darkness,  shut  out  from 
Home,  and  the  place  where  God's  brighter  glory  shines,  while  the  faithful 
ones  are  admitted  within,  and  the  children  look  upon  their  Father's  Face, 


248  NOTE  ON  262. 

and  rejoice  in  His  Love, — or,  to  use  the  other  figure,  he  will  pass  into  that 
'  Eternal  Fire,'  which  is  ever  burning  to  destroy  all  evil  things  in  God's 
Kingdom.  And  there,  too  will  he  lie,  till  God  sees  that  the  work  is  done, 
the  wood,  and  hay,  and  stubble  consumed,  the  filth  purged  away,  and  the 
pure  gold  left,  or  silver,  or  precious  stone,  which,  even  in  the  heart  of  that 
sinful  child,  the  Father's  eye  can  see. 

I  do  not  assert  that  this  is  what  was  meant  by  the  writer  of  the  Creed ; 
for  it  bears  the  stamp,  as  I  have  said,  of  a  harsh  and  intemperate  age,  when 
men  were  too  ready  to  consign  each  other  to  endless  perdition.  But  it  is 
all  that  we  can  understand  when  we  use  the  words,  in  accordance  with  what 
we  feel  to  be  the  general  teaching  of  the  Bible,  and  the  spirit  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  in  accordance  also  with  the  Article  which  tells  us  that  we  must 
'  receive  God's  promises  in  such  wise,  as  they  be  generally  set  forth  to  us  in 
Holy  Scriptures.' 

That  we  are  warranted,  however,  as  Christians,  in  thus  interpreting  the 
damnatory  clauses  of  the  Athanasian  Creed,  we  may  learn  from  the  practice 
even  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  For  that  Church  receives  the  Creed,  even  as 
we  do,  and  yet  it  believes  in  some  remedial  measures  after  death  ;  though 
it  takes  the  judgment  out  of  the  hands  of  Him,  who  is  the  only  true  and 
righteous  Judge,  and  assumes  the  power,  beyond  what  is  written,  to  lay 
down  the  laws  of  the  world  beyond  the  grave. 


SEEMOK"  OE"  THE  EUCHAEIST, 

Referred  to  in  Note  on  180. 


St.  John  vi.  51. 


/  am  the  Living  Bread  xohich  came  doioii  from  Heaven :  if  any  man  eat  of 
this  Bread,  he  shall  live  for  ever  :  and  the  Bread  that  I  will  give  is  My 
Flesh,  which  Iivill  give  for  the  life  of  the  icorld. 

We  shall  all  remember  those  memorable  words,  which  declare 
the  secret  of  Man's  life  from  the  beginning,  and  will  declare  it  to 
the  end  of  time — yes,  and  throughout  eternity.  'It  is  written, 
Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  pro- 
ceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God.'  These  things  which  we  see 
and  handle,  the  bread  and  other  outward  things,  with  which  the 
life  of  our  bodies  is  sustained,  have  after  all  no  power  of  support- 
ing life,  but  what  God  gives  them.  It  is  His  "Word  alone  that 
makes  them  what  they  are  to  us.  By  that  Word  alone,  by  that 
ever-working  gracious  WiU  of  God  our  Heavenly  Father,  do  we 
find  that  this  bread  has  power  to  nourish  our  bodies,  and  sustain 
our  present  life  in  being.  How  wretched,  then,  must  be  the  blind- 
ness and  foUy  of  those  who  seek  the  bread  of  this  life  even,  the 
daily  supplies  of  food  and  refreshment,  which  their  bodies  need 
and  long  for,  yet  forget  Him,  Who  alone  is  the  very  Source  and 
Giver  of  all  these  good  things  which  they  desire  and  enjoy, — in 
Whom  alone  they  '  live,  and  move,  and  have  their  being ! ' 
11* 


250  SEEMON    ON    THE   EUCHAKIST. 

But  then  the  bread  of  this  life  does  but  shadow  forth  to  us  the 
Bread  of  the  Soul — the  Living  Bread,  bj  which  alone  our  spirits 
live — and  which  the  same  good  Word  of  God  vouchsafes  so  freely 
and  bountifully  to  us.  As  daily  we  need  to  sustain  our  bodies 
with  the  wholesome  and  pleasant  food  which  God  supplies  to  us, 
so  surely  do  we  need  that  our  souls  should  feed  upon  the  Living 
Bread,  if  their  life  is  to  be  sustained.  And  that  bread  the  Living 
Word  shall  give  us,  Who  came  to  us  as  the  utterance  of  His 
Heavenly  Father's  Gracious  Will  towards  us.  Eather  He  is  Him- 
self the  Living  Bread,  and  we  must  feed  on  Him  daily,  and  mingle 
by  faith  His  Body  and  Blood  with  our  spiritual  being,  so  that  we 
may  be  truly  one  with  Him,  '  Members  of  His  Body,  of  His  Flesh, 
and  of  His  Bones.'  As  He  says  to  us  Himself  in  the  text,  '  I  am 
the  Living  Bread  which  came  down  from  Heaven :  if  any  man  eat 
of  this  Bread,  he  shall  live  for  ever :  and  the  Bread  which  I  will 
give  is  My  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the  world.' 

I  desire  this  day,  with  the  Blessing  of  God,  to  consider  with 
you  more  closely  these  words  of  our  Gracious  Lord.  It  is  of 
deepest  importance  that  we  should  consider  them,  and  clearly  un- 
derstand what  they  mean :  because  we  remember  how  it  follows, 
a  few  verses  after  the  text,  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  Christ  Himself, 
'  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  except  ye  eat  the  Flesh  of  the  Son 
of  Man,  and  drink  His  Blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you.'  Unless, 
therefore,  we  have,  each  of  us,  been  '  eating  His  Flesh,'  and  '  drink- 
ing His  Blood,'  we  have  here  the  Eternal  Truth  Himself  testifying 
that  '  we  have  no  life  in  us.' 

And  the  subject  is  specially  appropriate  to  this  occasion,  when 
we  are  gathered  together  to  witness  the  admission  of  one  here 
present  into  the  Holy  Order  of  Deacons,  and  to  take  part,  all  of 
us,  I  trust,  in  the  solemn  service  of  the  day,  with  our  Christian 
sympathy  and  prayers.  It  is  true  that,  by  the  Order  of  the  Church, 
a  Deacon  is  not  fully  authorized  to  be  a  dispenser  of  God's  Holy 
Word  and  Sacraments,  as  a  Priest  is.  He  may  baptise,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  Priest,  and  he  may  preach,  with  the  Bishop's  permis- 
sion. But  he  may  not  minister,  in  the  celebration  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  except  as  a  helper  to  the  Priest,  whose  office  alone 
it  is  to  consecrate  the  Bread  and  Wine,  which  are  the  signs  to  us 
in  that  Sacrament  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lord.  Neverthe- 
less, the  Deacon,  as  well  as  the  Priest,  hath  '  obtained  part  of  the 


SERMON    OX    THE    EUCHARIST.  251 

Ministry '  of  Christ.  Of  him  also — more  especially  if  her  be  one 
who  is  to  minister  chiefly  among  the  heathen — may  it  be  said,  in 
the  words  of  St.  Paul,  that  '  the  Glorious  Gospel  of  the  Blessed 
God  is  committed  to  his  trust.'  It  behoves  him  to  consider  well 
what  a  precious  trust  this  is,  which  he  has  received  of  God,  on 
behalf  of  his  fellow-men ;  and  in  what  way  he  is  to  explain,  for 
them  as  well  as  for  himself,  such  words  as  these,  '  Except  ye  eat 
the  Flesh  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  drink  His  Blood,  ye  have  no  life 
in  you.'  It  behoves  him  to  ponder  well  what  are  the  great  truths 
of  that  '  Glorious  Gospel,'  which  he  is  to  be  continually  setting 
forth  before  the  eyes  of  his  flock,  that  so,  in  God's  own  Light,  they 
may  see  Light,  even  '  the  Light  of  the  Knowledge  of  the  Glory  of 
God  in  the  Face  of  Jesus  Christ.' 

For  him,  therefore,  who  is  this  day  to  be  ordained  a  Deacon 
in  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  for  you,  and  for  me,  my  brethren,  it 
may  be  well  that  we  should  together  ponder  for  a  while  on  these 
words  of  our  Blessed  Lord.  What  then  do  these  expressions  mean 
in  the  text?  "What  are  we  to  understand  by  this  'eating  the 
Flesh,'  and  '  drinking  the  Blood,'  of  the  Son  of  Man  ? 

IsTow,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  plain  that  our  Lord  is  not  here 
referring,  expressly  and  exclusively,  to  the  Holy  Eucharist,  which 
we  caU  the  '  Sacrament  of  Christ's  Body  and  Blood.'  I  say  this  is 
plain ;  because  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  not  yet 
instituted,  and  yet  He  seems  to  speak  as  if  there  were  those,  who 
were  already  'eating  His  Flesh,'  and  'drinking  His  Blood,' and 
who  actually  had  thereby  '  Eternal  Life.'  For  He  says,  '  Whoso 
eateth  my  Flesh,  and  drinketh  my  Blood,  hath  Eternal  Life,  and  I 
will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day.'  At  all  events,  if  the  spiritual 
Food,  of  which  He  is  here  speaking,  were  only  to  be  obtained  by 
partaking  of  the  Holy  Sacrament,  then  those  whom  He  was  ad- 
dressing, the  Apostles  whom  He  had  chosen,  the  disciples  whom 
He  was  teaching,  inasmuch  as  they  had  not  yet  eaten  the  Flesh  of 
the  Son  of  Man  in  this  way,  nor  drunk  His  Blood,  would  have  had 
'  no  life  in  them.'  Moreover  the  holy  men  of  old,  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  t-he  Patriarchs,  Psalmists,  and  Prophets,  would  have 
had  '  no  life  in  them' — would  have  died  in  their  sins,  and  perished. 
Not  to  speak  of  the  mass  of  human  kind,  who  would  all  be  lying 
under  a  sentence  of  death,  notwithstanding  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  God  into  the  world,  and  the  publishing  of  those  '  good  tidings 


252  SERMON  ON  THE  EUCHAKIST. 

of  great  joy,  wliicli  were  to  be  to  all  people,' — our  own  children 
even,  though  baptized  into  the  Name  of  their  Pwedeemer,  and 
walking,  as  we  trust,  in  the  fear  of  God  and  in  the  path  of  pious 
dutj,  but  not  yet  of  age  to  be  confirmed,  and  so  be  admitted  to  the 
Holy  Table,  would  have  '  no  life  in  them.'  If  they  could  not  '  eat 
the  Flesh,'  and  '  drink  the  Blood,'  of  Jesus  Christ  their  Lord,  in 
some  other  way  than  by  partaking  of  the  Holy  Sacrament,  all 
these  would  be  lying  now  under  the  doom  of  death,  having  '  no 
life  in  them.'  The  words  are  so  plain  and  strong:  we  cannot 
escape  them.  '  Except  ye  eat  the  Flesh  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and 
drink  His  Blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you.' 

It  is  certain,  then,  that  we  must  seek  some  other  meaning  {o\ 
them  than  this,  that  they  are  spoken  expressly  and  exclusively  ol 
the  Holy  Eucharist.  I  do  not  believe,  indeed,  that  our  Blessed 
Lord  was  speaking  expressly  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  at  all  in  this 
passage.  Yet,  if  we  wish  to  find  the  true  meaning  of  Eucharist 
made  plain  to  us,  we  may  find  it  here.  For  here  our  Blessed 
Lord  condescends  to  teach  us  what  that  Holy  Feast  is  meant  to 
signify- — ^how,  while  it  is  itself  a  Feast,  a  means  of  grace  and  spir- 
itual strength  to  all  who  worthily  receive  it,  it  is  a  sign  and 
pledge  to  us  of  that  eating  and  drinking  of  Christ's  Body  and 
Blood,  by  which  alone  our  souls  can  live,  and  which  is  carried  on 
within  us  by  eyery  act  of  true  faith  which  we  exercise  upon  the 
Life  and  Death  of  our  Eisen  Lord,  as  really  and  truly,  and  in  the 
very  same  kind  of  way,  as  when  we  meet  together  at  His  Com- 
mand, and  eat  the  Bread  and  drink  the  Wine  '  in  remembrance 
of  Him.'  Beware  then,  brethren,  of  attaching  a  superstitious 
meaning  to  the  Holy  Sacrament,  and  fancying  that  our  Lord  is 
Present  to  us  more  really,  when  we  eat  and  drink  at  his  Holy 
Table,  than  He  is  when  we  are  privileged  to  have  communion  with 
Him  at  any  other  time,  and  m  any  other  manner,— as  if,  by  par- 
taking of  the  consecrated  Bread  and  Wine,  we  are  made,  in  some 
mysterious  way,  more  truly  partakers  of  Christ's  Body  and  Blood, 
than  we  are  by  virtue  of  any  other  act  of  living  faith,  whether 
wrought  in  our  secret  chamber,  or  among  the  busy  duties  of  daily 
life,  or  amidst  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  Great  Congregation. 
It  is  the  result  of  man's  theorising,  and  not  derived  from  God's 
"Revelation,  to  attempt  to  make  a  distinction  in  hind  between  our 
.^ord's  Presence  in  the  Holy  Eucharist,  and  that  which  He  vouch- 


SEKMON    ON    THE    EUCHAEIST.  253 

safes  to  US,  when  we  kneel  in  our  own  retirement,  or  meet  in  our 
ordinary  assemblies  for  the  Common  Worship  of  Prayer  and 
Praise. 

As  I  do  not  feel,  so  would  I  not  speak,  lightly  of  the  dignity 
of  that  Holy  Feast,  to  which  our  Lord  invites  us — of  the  blessed- 
ness of  those  who  '  come  to  it,  holy  and  clean,  in  the  marriage  gar- 
ment required  by  God  in  Holy  Scripture,  and  so  partake  fully  in 
the  rich  benefits  thereof — or  of  the  great  peril,  either  of  the  care- 
less neglect,  or  of  the  unworthy  receiving,  of  the  same.  Just  as 
we  believe  that  there  is  a  special  benefit  to  be  looked  for,  by  rea- 
son of  our  Lord's  gracious  promise,  that  He  will  specially  be  pres- 
ent 'where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  His  Name,'  be- 
yond that  which  is  promised  to  private  prayer,  and  yet  we  believe 
that  in  both  cases  He  will  be  present  with  us  in  the  same  hind  of 
way, — so  must  we  hold  that  the  highest  and  holiest  Form  of 
"Worship,  in  which  we  can  '  eat  the  Flesh  and  drink  the  Blood  of 
the  Son  of  Man,  is  when  we  partake  together  of  the  One  Bread  and 
the  One  Cup,  as  members  of  One  Body  in  Him.  Yet  still,  as  I 
have  said  before,  so  say  I  now  again  in  your  hearing,  the  bread 
which  we  then  break,  the  cup  which  we  bless,  in  token  of  our 
Lord's  broken  Body  and  poured-out  Blood,  are  visible  signs  to  us 
of  that  Communion  with  Him,  of  that  Communication  to  us  of  His 
Body  and  Blood,  which  is  daily  and  hourly  supporting  our  spirits' 
life.  This  Divine  Food  is,  indeed,  imparted  to  us,  at  that  moment, 
at  the  Holy  Table,  if  we  come  with  penitent  believing  hearts  to 
seek  it.  The  Sacrament  is  not  only  a  sign  and  seal  to  us  of  God's 
grace,  but  an  actual  means  of  grace  itself  to  all  devout  receivers. 
But  the  Food  which  is  then  supplied  to  us,  the  grace  and  strength 
which  we  then  receive  for  our  souls,  is  the  same  as  that  which  we 
may  trust  to  receive  at  all  times,  according  to  our  need,  when  dili- 
gently treading  the  path  of  Christian  Duty,  and  looking  upward 
by  Faith  unto  our  Lord. 

'  I  am  the  Living  Bread  which  came  down  from  Heaven.'  Yes, 
brethren !  our  Blessed  Lord  is  always  Present  with  us,  as  really 
and  truly  Present,  and  in  the  very  same  kind  of  way,  when  we 
bow  our  hearts  before  Him  in  public  or  in  private, — when  we- 
speak  the  word  of  Truth  and  Love,  or  act  the  deed  of  Faith,  in  His 
Name,  in  the  commonest  walk  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  our  every- 
day duties  and  charities, — as  when  on  some  High  Festival  we 


254  SERMON    ON    THE    EUCHARIST. 

gather  round  His  Board,  and  keep  the  Feast  at  His  command. 
This,  indeed,  is  that  Real  Presence  of  our  Lord,  of  which  you  have 
doubtless  heard.  We  must  not  think  of  the  Holy  Sacrament  as 
onhj  a  'badge  of  our  Christian  Profession,'  as  only  a  sign  and  seal 
of  God's  Favour  to  us,  as  only  a  memorial-feast,  in  which  we  make 
mention  of  the  great  things  which  Christ  hath  done  for  us,  and 
look  for  no  special  blessing  as  coupled  with  the  faithful  use,  and  no 
special  harm  to  be  dreaded  from  the  neglect  or  abuse,  of  it.  "We 
cannot  venture,  brethren,  to  neglect,  without  fear  of  consequences, 
any  plain  command  of  our  gracious  Lord,  and  more  especially  so, 
when  it  is  one  Avhich  the  Apostles  understood  so  well,  that  we 
know,  in  the  Primitive  Church,  they  habitually  practised  it,  and 
far  more  frequently  than  we  do  now.  By  so  doing,  we  cannot  but 
be  sorrowful  losers  of  the  rich  gifts  of  Grace,  which  He  has  in 
store  for  those  who  faithfully  obey  His  Word.  Even  if  we  know 
not  Tiow  He  will  vouchsafe  to  bless  us,  we  may  be  sure  of  this,  that 
if  He  has  promised  to  be  Present  specially,  '  where  two  or  three 
are  met  together  in  His  Name,'  so  most  certainly  will  He  be  Pres- 
ent, whenever  they  are  '  met  together  in  His  Name '  to  do  what 
He  Himself  has  expressly  commanded.  If  we  understood  no  more 
about  the  matter,  we  might  be  sure  of  this,  and  be  sure  also  that 
they  who  abuse  the  Sacred  Rite  which  He  has  enjoined  upon  us — 
who  come  to  it  with  light,  careless  steps,  and  irreverent,  impeni- 
tent, unchastened  hearts — shall  incur  the  guilt  of  those  who  '  do  not 
discern  the  Lord's  Body,'^who  do  not  discern  it,  that  is,  as  the  word 
properly  means,  separate  it,  separate  it  from  all  things  that  are 
unclean  and  unholy — who  do  not  rightly  value  and  esteem  it — who 
do  not  appreciate  it  in  its  mighty  depth  of  meaning,  and  prepare 
themselves  for  devout  meditation  upon  the  two  great  mysteries, 
summed  up  for  us  in  the  mention  of  His  Body  and  His  Blood,  of 
which  we  are  reminded  in  that  Holy  Sacrament.  These  two  great 
mysteries  should,  indeed,  be  the  Food  of  our  daily  life— should 
be  pondered  by  us  continually,  and  wrought  into  our  very  being  by 
daily  acts  of  faith  and  prayer.  But  on  these  High  Days  of  the  Churcn 
they  are  specially  presented  to  us,  and  set  before  us  more  distinctly 
and  visibly,  that  so  they  may  abide  with  us  on  other  days.  We 
'  eat  the  Flesh  and  drink  the  Blood  of  the  Son  of  Man,'  when  we 
approach,  with  humble  faith,  the  Holy  Eucharist,  in  order  that  so 
we  may  be  able  more  vividly  to  realize  His  Presence  at  all  times. 


SEEMON    ON    THE   EUCHAEIST.  255 

and  (in  His  own  gracious  words)  may  '  eat  Him,'  and  '  live  by  Him,' 
habitually  and  constantly.  Just  so  the  Lord's  Day  is  set  apart  by 
us,  Christians,  as  it  was  by  the  Church  of  Old,  for  Holy  Worship. 
And  thus  we  are  reminded  that  all  days  are  to  be  the  Lord's — that 
all  are  to  be  sanctified  and  set  apart  for  Him — that  the  spirit  of  the 
Sunday  must  flow  over  into  the  week  days,  and  our  whole  life  and 
our  whole  being  be  made  one  living  sacrifice  to  Him  who  hath 
loved  us.  And  the  Sunday  services  not  only  remind  us  of  this,  but 
help  us  to  accomplish  it. 

But  I  have  said  that  there  are  two  great  mysteries,  which  are 
visibly  set  before  us  in  the  Holy  Sacrament  of  our  Lord's  Body  and 
Blood.  The  one  is  that  which  is  represented  by  the  Bread,  which 
is  the  symbol  of  His  Body,  and  tJiat  of  His  Humanity.  The  other 
is  that  represented  by  the  Wine,  which  is  the  symbol  of  His  Blood, 
and  that  of  His  Suffering,  Humiliation,  and  Death.  These  two 
things  are  together  set  before  us  in  the  Scriptures  as  the  ground 
of  our  Christian  hope ;  and  one  without  the  other  is  not  suflScient 
for  us.  His  Body  and  His  Blood — His  Life  and  His  Death — His 
Coming  into  our  nature  to  take  part  with  the  sons  of  men,  to  be 
our  Brother-Man,  with  all  the  feelings  of  a  true  Man,  full  of  love, 
and  tender  pity,  and  brotherly  kindness  to  us  all,  full  of  righteous- 
ness and  truth  and  love  before  God,  a  perfect  Man,  in  whom  the 
Father  is  well  pleased,  and  with  us  in  Him,  as  the  second  Head 
of  our  race — and  His  Dying  in  our  nature.  His  being  '  obedient 
even  unto  death,'  His  yielding  up  His  human  life  upon  the  Cross 
into  His  Father's  hands,  as  the  crowning  act  of  that  '  full,  perfect, 
and  sufiicient  sacrifice,  oblation,  and  satisfaction,'  which  He  offered 
as  the  Son  of  Man  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world. 

Thus,  then,  we  have  need  to  make  memorial  both  of  His  Body 
and  His  Blood — of  the  Body  which  He  took,  of  the  Blood  which 
He  shed.  We  are  to  feed  upon  this  Living  Bread,  which  came 
down  from  Heaven,  that,  so  feeding,  we  may  '  have  life,'  that,  so 
living,  we  may  live  '  for  ever.'  For  this  spiritual  Bread,  which  Ave 
must  eat.  He  tells  us  must  be  'His  Flesh,  which  he  will  give  for 
the  life  of  the  world.'  Daily  and  hourly  we  should  be  thus  feed- 
ing on  this  Living  Bread,  as  daily  and  hourly  we  should  be  drink- 
ing of  the  Living  Water,  which  His  Love  also  supplies  to  us. 
And  so,  too,  daily  and  hourly,  we  shall  be  dwelling  in  Him,  and 
He  in  us.     '  He  that  eateth  my  Flesh,'  He  says,  '  and  drinketh 


256  SEKMON    ON    THE    EUCHAKIST. 

my  Blood,  dwelleth  in  Me,  and  I  in  him.'  Our  Blessed  Lord 
does  not  mean  that  by  eating  once  or  twice  only  in  our  lives, 
or  once  a  month,  or  once  a  week,  this  heavenly  Food,  when 
it  is  offered  to  us  in  the  Holy  Sacrament,  we  shall  '  have  eternal 
life.'  He  means  that  we  should  be  eating  it  continually,  that  it 
may  become,  as  it  were,  incorporated  with  our  whole  spiritual 
frame  by  a  true  living  faith,  the  very  strength  and  sustenance  of 
our  spirit's  life.  Let  this  be  the  use  we  make  of  the  Holy  Eucharist, 
not  to  regard  it,  in  the  words  of  one  of  old,  as  a  '  tremendous  mys- 
tery,' only  to  be  approached  by  us  with  unutterable  fear  and 
trembling,  as  something  wholly  different  from  the  rest  of  our  daily 
spiritual  life,  in  the  hope  of  then  realizing,  in  some  ineffable  extra- 
ordinary way,  the  Presence  of  our  Lord,  as  we  do  not  at  other 
times.  But  let  us  come  to  it,  as  the  appointed  means  for  keeping 
us  in  mind  of  that  far  more  awful,  but  withal  cheering,  hope-in- 
spiring, life-giving  Mystery,  of  the  Eeal  Presence  with  us  of  our 
Lord  at  all  times,  of  our  dependence  upon  Him,  of  our  union  with 
Him — as  a  means  for  helping  and  quickening  us  to  '  work  out  our 
salvation  daily  with  fear  and  trembling,  because  it  is  God ' — our 
gracious  God  and  Father,  by  His  Spirit,  which  He  hath  vouchsafed 
to  us,  through  the  human  life  and  death  of  His  own  dear  Son — it 
is  God  Himself  who  '  worketh  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His 
own  good  pleasure.' 

"Were  it  not  so — were  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord  only  to  be  eaten  in  the  Holy  Communion — I  know  not  how 
the  Church  could  presume  to  fix  any  limit  to  the  number  of  times 
a  year,  'not  less  than  three  at  the  least,'  at  which  the  Communion 
in  every  parish  should  be  celebrated.  Surely  we  should,  in  that 
case,  be  bound  to  be  perpetually  communicating,  Sunday  after 
Sunday,  day  after  day,  rather  during  every  hour  of  waking  life — 
at  least,  as  often  as  we  can  do  so,  without  forsaking  any  plain  pos- 
itive duty.  Thanks  be  to  God,  we  may  feed  thus  upon  the  Liv- 
ing Bread — yea,  we  may  feed  upon  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ 
our  Lord — on  Sundays  and  on  week  days,  from  day  to  day,  from 
hour  to  hour,  even  when  we  cannot  press  the  Sacrament  with  our 
lips  at  all,  if  we  are  feeding  in  our  hearts  by  faith  upon  Him.  W.e 
shall  not  then  presume  to  despise  or  neglect  His  Holy  Table.  We 
shall  always  be  ready  to  draw  near  to  it,  when  the  call  and  oppor- 
tunity are  given  to  us.     We  shall  always  desire  to  have  our  faith 


SERMON  ON  THE  EUCHAKIST.  257 

quickened,  and  our  souls  strengthened  and  refreshed  with  that 
spiritual  Food,  which  is  verily  and  indeed  taken  and  received  by- 
all  faithful  souls  in  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Upon  this  point  listen  to  the  striking  words  of  our  own  Church 
Prayer  Book,  in  one  of  the  Eubrics  at  the  end  of  the  Service  for 
the  Visitation  of  the  Sick.     '  If  a  man,  either  by  reason  of  extrem- 
ity of  sickness,  or  for  want  of  warning  in  due  time  to  the  Curate, 
or  for  lack  of  company  to  receive  with  him,  or  by  any  other  just 
impediment,  do  not  receive  the  Sacrament  of  Christ's  Body  and 
Blood,  the  Curate  shall  instruct  him  that,  if  he  do  truly  repent 
him  of  his  sins,  and  steadfastly  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  hath  suf- 
fered death  upon  the  Cross  for  him,  and  shed  His  Blood  for  his 
redemption,  earnestly  remembering  the  benefits  he  hath  thereby, 
and  giving  him  thanks  therefore,  he  doth  eat  and  drink  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ  profitably  to  his  soul's  health, 
although  he  do  not  receive  the  Sacrament  with  his  mouth.'    If  it 
be  said  that  these  words  suppose  the  case  of  one,  who  does  desire 
in  his  heart  to  eat  the  Holy  Supper  of  the  Lord,  and  that  the 
Church  has  only  here  provided  for  a  case  of  extreme  necessity,  as- 
suring her  child  that  the  desire  of  his  heart  wiU  be  heard  and 
answered  with  the  blessing  of  Him,  '  Who  seeth  in  secret,  and  will 
reward  openly,'  yet  must  there  not  be  multitudes  in  whom  the 
same  desire  exists,  as  really  and  truly  as  in  the  heart  of  this  sick 
man,  and  who,  by  necessity  as  strong  as  his,  are  kept  from  sharing 
outwardly  in  this  Sacred  Feast?    Missionaries,  labouring  among 
the  heathen,  where  there  is  no  ordained  Minister — settlers  in  a 
colony  like  this,  dwelling  far  from  the  public  means  of  grace — the 
many  who  travel  by  land  or  by  sea — those  detained  at  home  by 
weakness,  or  the  care  of  children,  or  any  other  'just  impediment,' 
though  they  may  live  under  the  care  of  a  pastor,  and  within  reach 
of  the  sound  of  the  church-going  bell — those  even  who  liaTie  a 
Minister,  and  diligently  attend  the  House  of  Prayer,  yet  are  rarely 
invited  to  the  Holy  Table,  perhaps  through  the  indifference  and 
negligence  of  their  spiritual  guide,  perhaps  through  his  inability 
to  summon  them,  from  not  having  received  authority  in  the  Church 
to  do  so — shall  it  not  be  said  of  many  of  these,  that  the  desire  of 
their  hearts  is  towards  the  remembrance  of  their  Lord's  command, 
and  towards  the  Feast  which  He  has  made  for  them  ?    And  sure- 
ly He,  that  has  quickened  their  hearts,  and  kindled  these  desires 


258  SEEMON   ON   THE   EUCHARIST. 

within  them,  '  will  hearken  thereto ;'  and  ther,  too,  like  the  sick 
man,  shall  '  eat  and  drink  profitably  to  their  souls'  health,  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  their  Saviour  Christ,  although  they  do  not  re- 
ceive the  Sacrament  with  their  mouth.' 

"We  may  not  then  neglect  this  Holy  Feast,  which  our  Lord  hath 
commanded  to  be  observed.  No  true  Christian  will  do  so.  We 
shall  most  thankfully  embrace  each  opportunity,  which  the  order 
of  the  Church  allows,  for  '  breaking  bread'  together  in  the  Name 
of  our  Lord,  and  partaking  of  this  Holy  Communion,  which  will 
not  only  be  a  source  of  life  and  strength  to  each  faithful  individual 
soul,  but  will  be  so  specially,  because  it  witnesses  of  Grace,  and 
Love,  and  Blessing,  for  all — because  it  testifies  that  we  all,  who 
are  baptized,  are  members  of  one  Body  in  Him.  The  Holy  Sup- 
per is  one  of  the  Sacraments,  which,  as  the  Church  teaches  us,  is 
'  generally  necessary  for  salvation.'  But,  when  deprived  by  the 
Providence  of  God  of  this  privilege,  or  when  hindered  by  any  'just 
impediment' — sach  as  we  can  plead  before  Him  who  seeth  in  se- 
cret, and  who  can  be  deceived  by  no  juggle  of  the  conscience, — 
we  can,  under  such  circumstances,  eat  the  Sacred  Body  and  drink 
the  Precious  Blood  of  Christ  our  Lord,  by  devout  meditation  and 
prayer,  by  acts  of  repentance,  faith,  and  thanksgiving,  at  home,  in 
our  retirement,  without  the  use  of  Bread  and  Wine,  with  no  Table 
upon  which  to  spread  the  Elements,  with  no  Minister  at  hand  to 
bless  them.  And  we  can  derive  our  needful  supply  of  spiritual 
life  thereby,  and  '  dwell  in  Christ  our  Lord,  and  He  in  us.'  We 
can  do  this  just  as  really  and  truly,  as  we  can  worship  at  all  in 
private,  whenever  we  are  hindered  by  any  just  impediment  from 
joining  in  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  Church — -just  as  really 
and  truly,  as  we  can  then  go  into  our  closet,  and  shut  the  door, 
and  bend  the  knee  to  our  Father  in  Heaven,  and  be  sure  of  having 
fresh  gifts  of  spiritual  life  supplied  to  us ;  and  this  we  know  can 
only  come  (as  our  Lord  tells  us  in  the  text)  by  '  eating  His  Flesh 
and  drinking  His  Blood,'  which  we  therefore  do  efifectually  in  all 
such  moments  of  devotion  and  prayer. 

O !  thanks  be  to  God,  our  Living  Lord  is  present  everywhere 
to  the  believing,  penitent,  and  prayerful  soul.  And  we  can  see 
Him  with  the  eyes  of  faith,  and  touch  Him  with  our  hands,  and 
feed  upon  His  Divine  Humanity,  His  Life  and  Death,  His  Body 
and  Blood,  as  that  which  God  has  given  to  be  the  Bread  of  our 


SEEMON   ON    THE   EUCHAEIST.  259 

Souls,  the  means  of  quickening,  reviving,  and  strengthening  us, — 
though  we  may  be  far  away  from  our  fellow-Christians,  far  from 
the  goodly  Houses  of  Prayer  and  Common  Worship,  far  from  the 
reach  of  Christ's  appointed  Ministers — living,  it  may  be,  among  .a 
barbarous  people,  and  amidst  the  wild  tribes  of  heathenism. 

And  should  this  be  the  lot  of  any  one  of  us,  let  us  remember, 
further,  what  is  written  in  the  text,  from  the  Blessed  Lips  of  the 
Son  of  Man :  '  The  Bread,  which  I  will  give,  is  My  Flesh,  which  I 
will  give  for  the  life  of  the  World.'  Tor  the  life  of  the  World,  He 
says — not  for  the  life  of  believers  only — of  those  who  already 
know  something  of  the  Truth,  who  are  permitted  to  rejoice  in 
some  measure  even  now  in  the  bright  rays  of  the  Sun  of  Eight- 
eousness,  who  are  privileged,  beyond  others  of  the  great  human 
family,  to  look  with  glad  eyes  and  hearts  upon  the  Light  of  Life. 
But  'I  will  give  my  Flesh,'  He  says,  'for  the  life  of  the  WorW— 
of  the  whole  human  race.  I  will  give  it  that  all  the  World  may 
have  life — that  the  curse  of  death  may  be  taken  olF  the  whole  race 
together,  and  the  free  gift  of  life  be  imparted  to  all.  Yes!  in  the 
secret  counsels  of  Almighty  Wisdom,  He  had  given  it  already — 
His  Flesh — for  the  life  of  the  world.  He  was  'the  Lamb  slain,'  in 
the  purpose  of  God,  '  from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world.' 
And  through  Him  has  life  been  given  to  us.  That  life,  which  the 
first  Adam's  sin  had  forfeited,  has  been  restored  to  us  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  Even  as  it  is  written,  '  As  by  the  offence  of  the  one 
man  judgment  came  upon  all  men  to  condemnation,  even  so  by  the' 
righteousness  of  One  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  unto  justifi- 
cation of  life.'  And  again,  'God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the 
World  unto  Himself,  not  imputing  our  trespasses  unto  us.' 

Mark  then,  my  brother,  now  about  to  be  admitted  to  the  Holy 
Functions  of  the  Ministry,  you  wUl  be  an  Ambassador  for  Christ 
to  the  Heathen  to  tell  them  these  things — to  tell  them  plainly  that 
all  men,  the  whole  human  race,  are  receiving  even  now  the  bless- 
ings of  life,  of  life  for  the  body,  and  of  life,  spiritual  life,  for  the 
soul,  from  Him,  Who  is  the  Life  and  Light  of  all  men — the  '  True 
Light,'  as  St.  John  says,  'Who  lighteneth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world.'  You  are  to  tell  them  that  all  men  are  sharing 
even  now  in  the  blessings  of  the  Great  Redemption — are  made 
partakers  of  Christ's  Humanity,  of  His  Life  and  of  His  Death — are 
deriving  life  and  strength  from  Him,  Who  '  gave  His  Flesh  for  the 


260  SEEMOX  ON  THE  EUCHARIST. 

life  of  the  World '— '  Who  (says  St.  Paul)  gave  Himself  a  ransom  for 
All,  to  be  testified  in  due  time'—'  Who  (says  St.  John)  is  the  Pro- 
pitiation, not  for  our  sins  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
World.'  You  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  Sacraments  of  the 
Christian  Church  are  not  meant  to  be  exclusive,  negative,  con- 
demning, in  their  character ;  but  they  are  meant  to  be  standing 
Witnesses  of  God's  Love  to  all  the  World.  Just  as  we  do  not  sup- 
pose that,  because  we  keep  the  Sunday  as  the  Lord's  Day,  there- 
fore the  six  other  days  are  not  the  Lord's,  but  may  be  given  to  the 
World,  the  Flesh,  and  the  Devil ;— just  as  we  believe  that  the  Sun- 
day being  kept  by  us  as  the  Lord's  Day,  from  week  to  week,  is  a 
standing  Witness  that  all  days  of  the  week  are  His,  and  a  means 
of  helping  us  to  consecrate  our  whole  lives  to  Him ; — so,  too,  the 
Church  itself  is  set  up,  not  to  cut  off  and  to  condemn  the  whole 
world  besides,  as  having  no  part  in  Christ,  no  share  in  the  Bless- 
ings of  His  Coming,  but  as  a  Witness  that  all  men  are  Christ's, 
that  the  whole  human  race  belongs  to  Him,  Who  has  redeemed, 
them.  Who  has  doiigJit  them  laclc  for  Himself,  Who  lived,  and  died, 
and  rose  again,  for  all.  It  is  set  up  as  a  Light  in  the  World, — as 
a  City  shining  bright  upon  a  hill,  that  cannot  be  hid — not  in  order 
to  throw  the  gloom  of  darkness  over  all  the  world  besides,  but  in 
order  to  witness  of  the  Love,  which  is  even  now  brooding  over 
all,  as  it  did  at  first,  when  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void, 
and  the  Spirit  of  God,  informing,  life-giving,  was  moving  over  the 
^ace  of  the  waters.  Our  baptism  is  the  ratification  to  each  one  of 
us  individually  of  those  Gracious  Promises,  which  were  made  to 
Him,  who  is  the  Great  Head  of  our  Race,  as  the  Eepresentative 
of  us  all.  And  while  it  admits  us,  so  to  speak,  into  God's  inner 
Family  of  Sons  and  Daughters,  and  gives  us  a  claim,  beyond  the 
rest  of  our  fellow-men,  to  look  up  cheerfully  to  Heaven,  and  call 
the  Great  God  our  Father;  it  is  a  Witness  also,  that  He,  who 
came  down  from  Heaven  to  be  the  Son  of  Man,  by  His  Body  and 
His  Blood,  '  hath  redeemed  us.  Christians,  and  all  mankind.'' 

And  so  too  the  Holy  Sacrament  of  Christ's  Body  and  Blood  is 
a  standing  Witness  to  us,  with  its  'outward  visible  sign,'  appoint- 
ed by  our  Blessed  Lord  Himself,  Who  knew  what  was  in  man, 
and  how  we  should  need  this  constantly-recurring  Feast,  these 
outward  symbols,  to  bring  vividly  before  us  Eternal  Realities — it 
is  a  Witness,  I  say,  of  the  Great  Fact  that  by  Him  alone  we  live — 


SERMON   ON   THE   EUCHAEIST.  261 

by  Him,  Wliom  God  Almighty,  of  His  tender  Love  towards  man- 
kind, liath  sent  to  take  upon  Him  our  Flesh,  and  to  give  that  Flesh 
for  the  life  of  the  "World — by  Him,  "Who  is  the  "Word  of  God,  in 
"Whom  is  Life,  and  that  Life  the  Light  of  men.  It  is  a  "Witness 
that,  if  any  man,  whether  Christian  or  Heathen,  have  any  one 
spark  of  spiritual  life  within  him,  have  any  one  good  thought,  or 
movement,  or  desire,  upon  which  he  strives  to  act  in  his  daily 
duties,  it  must  be  because  he  has  been  fed,  in  his  measure,  in  some 
real  and  life-giving  way,  with  the  Living  Bread,  although,  per- 
haps, he  knew  it  not — because  he  has  been  drawing  light  and  life, 
however  unconsciously,  from  the  Living  "Word,  made  Flesh  for 
man — because  to  him  also  has  flowed  some  divine  virtue  from  our 
Blessed  Lord's  Humanity — because  it  has  been  granted  to  him  to 
'  eat  the  Flesh,'  and  '  drink  the  Blood '  of  the  Son  of  Man,  although, 
perhaps,  not  yet  revealed  to  him — because  he  has  had  that  spark 
of  inward  life  supplied  to  him,  by  virtue  of  his  relation,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Great  Human  Family,  to  its  One  Living  Head,  to  the 
Lord  and  Elder  Brother  of  us  all. 


■»• 


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APPENDIX: 

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CONTENTS. 

I.    On  Ifiracles  as  Etidences  of  Chris-  \  H.  L.  MANSEL,  B.  D.,  Wayn- 
tianity.  )     flete  Professor  of  Moral  and  Me- 

taphysical Philosophy,  Oxford ; 
late  Tutor  and  Fellow  of  St. 
John's  Coll, 
II.   On  the  Study  of  the  Ecidenees  of  )  WILLIAM   FITZGEEALD,  D. 
Christianity.  )     I>.,'Lord  Bishop  of  Killaloe. 

III.  Prophecy A.  M'CAUL,   D.D.,  Professor  of 

Hebrew  and  Old  Testament  Ex- 
egesis, King's  College,  London, 
and  Prebendary  of  St.  PauFs. 

IV.  Ideology  and  Subscription F.  C.  COOKE,  M. A.,  Chaplain  in 

Ordinary  to  the  Queen,  one  of 
H.  M.  Inspectors  of  Schools, 
Prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  and 
Examining  Chaplain  to  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln. 
V.   The  Mosaic  Record  of  Creation...    A.  M'CAUL,  D.D.,  Professor  of 

Hebrew  and  Old  Testament 
Exegesis,  King's  College,  Lon- 
don, and  Prebendary*  of  St. 
Paul's. 
VI  On  the  Genuineness  and  Authenti-  \  GEOEGE  EAWLINSON,  M.A., 
city  of  the  Pentateuch.  )      Camden    Professor  of  Ancient 

^   -^  History,  Oxford ;  and  late  Fel- 

low and  Tutor  of  Exeter  Coll. 

VII.    Inspiration EDWAED  HAEOLD  BEOWNE 

"'    ^  ^  B.   D.,  Nornsian  Professor  of 

^  Divinity     at    Cambridge,    and 

Canon  Eesidentiary  of  Exeter 
Cathedral. 

VIIL    The  Death  of  Christ WILLIAM  THOMSON,    D.  D 

Lord  Bishop  of  Gloucester  and 
Bristol. 
IX    Scriature  and  its  Interpretation...     CHAELES  JOHN  ELLICOTT, 

B.  D.,  Dean  of  Exeter,  and  Pro- 
fessor of  Divinity,  King's  Col- 
lege, London. 


EXTEACT  FEOM  PEEFACE. 
This  volume  is  humbly  offered  to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  as  one  at- 
tempt among  many  to  keep  men  true  to  Him  in  a  time  of  much  doubt  and 
trial.  Under  His  protection.  His  people  need  not  be  afraid.  The  old  ditncm- 
ties  and  objections  are  revived,  but  they  will  meet  in  one  way  or  another  the 
old  defeat.  While  the  world  lasts  skeptical  books  will  be  written  and  answered, 
and  the  books,  perhaps,  and  the  answers  alike  forgotten.  But  the  Eock  oi  Ages 
ehall  stand  unchangeable ;  and  men,  worn  with  a  sense  of  sin,  shall  still  nnd 
rest  under  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land. 


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